Nancy Wiedenman Lester ’58
Nancy Wiedenman Lester ’58, former director of administrative services for development and alumni affairs, died December 24, 2017.
A 1958 Skidmore graduate in business studies, Nancy began work at her alma mater five months after graduation as an assistant in the office of public relations.
In 1974 Nancy became the assistant to the vice president of development, a position she held until 1986, when she was named director of administrative services for development and alumni affairs, a job broad in both scope and responsibility.
“Nancy was feisty and spoke her mind, but a lot of people didn’t know how fantastic she really was,” says Pat Poirer, coordinator of biographical records for Advancement Services. “She was the best supervisor. You knew what she expected and you were free to do it.”
“Nancy was the gatekeeper of all information,” says Vicki Greene Aldrich ’74, who became assistant director of alumni affairs in 1977. “Nancy led the effort to get our information automated, working with information technology and our vendors to ensure that we could collect, report, and access data. She was such a hard worker. Nancy advanced Advancement at Skidmore more than folks know.”
“There’s no question that Nancy brought advancement into the computer age,” says Jennifer Clark, secretary to the director of alumni affairs. “But what strikes me most about her legacy is that she really loved Skidmore. Her passion was Skidmore. You could see it and feel it when she talked about the college.”
Nancy liked to repeat former Skidmore President Val Wilson’s words: “Skidmore is a college not large enough to be big, but small enough to be great.” Reflecting on her successful 32-year professional career, she once mused, “Maybe there are special qualities about this place that bring out the special qualities in people.”
After retirement, Nancy threw herself into volunteer activities, as a trustee at the Saratoga Regional YMCA (she was the Y’s first woman president); a board member of the Saratoga County Economic Opportunity Council, often helping in its soup kitchen; a cataloging assistant for the George S. Bolster Collection of the Saratoga Springs Historical Society; and not surprisingly, an active Class of 1958 volunteer and generous donor.
Just four years ago, Nancy was the recipient of the Saratoga Regional YMCA’s prestigious Frederic J. Resseguie Leadership Award, only the fifth to receive it since 1971 and the first woman. All told, she volunteered at the YMCA for more than 50 years, even meeting her future husband there, fellow volunteer Milford Dowd Lester.
As a testament to their good deeds and love for Skidmore, the College’s Dowd-Lester Award was established by Nancy and Milford in honor of the Dowd and Lester families to annually recognize at Honors Convocation an outstanding senior biology major or combined major.
Nancy is survived by her stepdaughters, Pamela Lester Golde and Valerie Lester. Her husband, Milford Dowd Lester, passed away in 2006.