David Christopher Leonard

David Christopher Leonard passed away at his summer home in Sandwich, New Hampshire on October 2nd 2010.  David to some, Chris to most, was born in Michigan, June 10, 1950. He was the son of the late David and Julia (Bader) Leonard. He was a proud graduate of the former  Woodstock Country School, in Vermont, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and he received a doctorate in cultural anthropology from City University of New York. He did his field-work in the little northern Italian town of Biella on the changes in the locally owned textile factories.  Chris loved being a college professor.  Like his father and grandfather, respected Latin American history professors, he cared passionately about his students. He taught at Keene State College, at Hofstra University, Trinity College, and Baruch College.  He sought to challenge the unexamined assumptions of his students, to question what they read and heard. He shared his love of the power of the mind. He was outspoken about his ideas and deeply concerned about the increasing inequalities of American society. He brought a tremendous wealth of information to any topic under discussion.     In recent years his battle with cancer made continuing as a teacher impossible.  He turned to the issue of how physicians communicate with their patients when confronted with life threatening illness.  It was an issue he was researching and studying at the time of his death.  What did "informed consent" mean to a patient who was not medically educated, and how does the patient evaluate the options that a physician presents?  It was a question that expanded to how we come to understand and make decisions in a society that it is increasingly technological and requires highly technical skills upon which all of us rely. Those who knew Chris knew the passion with which he embraced the universe of ideas and the passion with which he participated in conversation with any and all.  For him politics was the act of being among others and speaking to create and re-create a better world.  While not a professional politician, he spoke frequently about politics and the role it plays in our lives.  He studied and lived in the world of politics, economics and philosophy.  His home in Sandwich, New Hampshire, located on the Bearcamp River between the Ossipee and White Mountains is an area of beauty and tranquility, a perfect setting for reading, reflecting and writing in the company of his beloved cat, Carlino. Some would say that Chris was a colorful individual.  And it does seem that with his passing the world is less colorful for those of us who remain behind.   He was devoted to his family and leaves behind his sister, Catherine Hopkins, brother-in-law Charles Hopkins of Amherst, Massachusetts, nieces, Rachel Hopkins and her husband, Eric Weinrieb and grand nephew, Gabriel, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Alexandra Hopkins and Sarah Hopkins of Denver, Colorado, an uncle, Seth Tuttle, of Bethesda, Maryland, and cousins Samantha and Russell Tuttle and Hans and Lars Bader. He leaves many friends spread throughout the world.Service:There will be a celebration of his life at the family farm in Sandwich, New Hampshire this next August so that family and friends can gather in the spot that was so beloved by Chris.  Donations may be made to the Samuel Wentworth Library, Sandwich, New Hampshire or to the Sandwich Historical Museum, in Sandwich, New Hampshire.  Raise a glass of wine and toast him, listen to Vivaldi, and let us look around us for those in need of help, and then give it.