Lester Heller died on January 11th 2009 in Provincetown. He was 89 years old. The dictionary defines a Renaissance man as: a man who has broad intellectual interests and is accomplished in areas of both the arts and the sciences. Lester Heller was truly blessed in his lifetime, and you can be sure that he would smile knowingly to friends and strangers alike, and go on to say that there was also a lot more to him than this. There certainly was.

Born in 1919 in Newark, New Jersey, Lester grew up in the Bronx during the depression, attending Townsend Harris High School and subsequently City College of New York (CCNY), where he studied Botany. He became a well-known college fencing champion during this time, proficient in epee, saber and foil, and always loved to recall the particular moment when he encountered the Olympic fencing champion, Rene Pinchart, and scored a hit!

His studies continued at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology at Coos Bay, after receiving his Bachelor of Science from CCNY. A statistician for the agricultural census during World War II, he received his Masters degree in 1958 from the University of Maryland, while using sabbaticals to do graduate work in Math at Boston College. Dedication to educating himself and others was a lifelong pursuit for Lester. He was the first Jewish schoolteacher in Montgomery County, Maryland, teaching Science and Math at junior high school and eventually college level. He met his beloved wife Adele while they were both teachers at Leland Junior High School; she famously wooed him with sandwiches left in his school mailbox. Love blossomed and an enduring and happy marriage ensued.

Over the course of his long and varied career he earned three Masters degrees. He became Professor Heller, Head of the Multimedia Center at Montgomery College in 1964, where he made several films for the college that received national and international acceptance. His professional cinema credits include films made for the English, Physics and Dental Assisting Programs for the college. His personal film projects reflected his various interests: everything from African pot making, to local Maryland history, to some wonderful films on Karl Knaths and Peter Busa, made during summers in Provincetown. Lester was also the faculty advisor for the Folk Music Club on the campus and was instrumental in bringing to light the music of artists such as Skip James, Jamey Brockett and Libba Cotton. There he also helped rediscover the music of Blues singer Mississippi John Hurt. Lester retired from teaching in1977.

A knowledgeable collector of American art and antiques and a lifelong devotee of music and the performing arts, it was Lester Heller’s innate curiosity that led him to Provincetown. His daughter Julie recalls him telling her that he found the easternmost point on the map and thought, “ I want to go there!” Having first visited Provincetown in the 1940’s Lester and his young family went on to spend every summer from 1960 onwards in the town. The Hellers took over the Provincetown-Playhouse-On-The-Wharf in 1972 and established an all Equity company that won growing critical acclaim for the artistic merit of their productions. In the summer of 1977 teenage arsonists burned the theater to the ground and Lester and his wife Adele decided not to leave after Labor Day: wanting instead to focus their energy on the rebuilding of the Playhouse. The Hellers determinedly turned the disaster into an opportunity, and not just a theatrical one. “This cradle is going to rock in more than just a performing arts sense, “ Adele Heller asserted. “The very rebuilding of it should be a performance that people can associate with as a telling, inspiring time in their lives as well as ours.” Accordingly, a groundbreaking design competition was launched by Adele Heller’s conviction that the invited architects should be immersed in the town and the townspeople should share in that architectural adventure. An on-site charette was duly launched with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. The competition jury was recruited both nationally and locally. Afterwards, Chairman I.M.Pei stated that the Hellers Provincetown competition would go on to set a standard for selecting the design of community, cultural and other publicly oriented facilities. Funding for the new building never quite got off the ground and after Adele’s death it still remained a dream of Lester’s to see the Playhouse back in action as a visual and performing arts venue in Provincetown. This is the legacy he passes on to his daughter Julie.

Over the years Lester and Adele Heller became cultural touchstones, donating art and related historical materials to town collections and establishments. Always spirited participants on the art scene, they gave generously of their time and energy. The summer of 2009 will see a series of free lectures in memory of Lester & Adele Heller at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. It is a fitting celebration of their mutual and lifelong love of the arts and education.

Over the course of his long and varied life Lester Heller achieved much in the way of accomplishments, but it was always his family and friends that gave him the most joy. In his last years he suffered the death of his beloved wife Adele in 1997 and his son Daniel Heller in 2006. He took great pleasure in spending his days in his daughter’s art gallery, listening to the piano music of Fanny Mendelssohn, and in trying valiantly each week to win the cartoon caption competition in the New Yorker. Lester was a man of uncommon wit and ever-present compassion and kindness to all he encountered. His bark was always worse than his bite and many of us relied upon his sound advice on subjects ranging from car mechanics to the dilemmas of life. He will be forever remembered on his high-backed chair, just inside the door of the Heller gallery, ready to dispense a joke or colorful tale, or guessing the age of a visiting child whom he could always elicit a smile from.

He is survived by his daughter Julie Heller and her longtime companion Donald Faber and also by his daughter Amy Heller and her husband Bart Weisman both of Provincetown.

Memorial donations can be sent to:
The Provincetown Art Association and Museum, (460 Commercial St, Provincetown, MA 02657, 508 487 1750) Please join us in expressing your sympathy and condolences to the family and friends of Lester Heller. Donations should be marked for the 2009 Lester and Adele Heller Memorial Lecture Series.

In lieu of flowers, cards of condolences can be sent to the family at:
199 Commercial Street, Apt. 12, Provincetown, MA 02657