Memorial service for John Sarvey Monday at 11 a.m.

by | Dec 2, 2012 | Newton | 6 comments

Bruce Henderson sent us this..

| Newton MA News and Politics BlogNewton and the world lost a wonderful citizen over the Thanksgiving weekend. John Sarvey – an amazingly talented, warm, smart, humble friend to so many – dedicated his life to public service, youth development, civic leadership, and family. Most recently Executive Director of Northeastern’s School of Public Policy & Urban Affairs, John earlier was for many years a key executive of City Year, in Boston, San Jose, and the national office. A memorial service will be held Monday, Dec. 3 at 11AM at First Unitarian Society in Newton, 1326 Washington Street in West Newton.

 

6 Comments

  1. Sean
    Sean on December 3, 2012 at 8:37 am

    Bruce gets John just right: warm, smart, humble. A really decent guy who has died way too young.

  3. Sean
    Sean on December 3, 2012 at 1:34 pm

    A very moving service for a man who very clearly touched a lot of people in his too brief life. One of those giving memorial described John as an “inspiring service warrior.” A nice epitaph.

  4. Ted Hess-Mahan
    Ted Hess-Mahan on December 3, 2012 at 3:01 pm

    What Sean and Bruce said. John and Rachel and their two children are part of our family at FUSN and I know he was dearly loved and will be greatly missed by all who were touched by him and his unfailing kindness, compassion and warmth.

  5. BOB BURKE
    BOB BURKE on December 3, 2012 at 4:49 pm

    People like John are what makes Newton such a great place to live. Sad loss

  6. Bruce Henderson
    Bruce Henderson on December 3, 2012 at 11:30 pm

    Today the UCLA Daily Bruin ran this obituary for John, who had been president of its student government.

    John was also senior staff in Northeastern’s Dukakis Center, and in today’s memorial service, Gov. Dukakis said:

    I just came from a class of 35 undergraduates at Northeastern who are taking my Public Policy Administration course. The things I try to teach them are the things that I think make great public leaders:
    – You’ve got to have passion, to care deeply about the world around you.
    – You’ve got to be a pragmatic optimist.
    – You’ve got to be a good listener.
    – You’ve got to be someone who brings people together, who respects different views but believes fundamentally that, if we spend time together and reason together, people can come together around real solutions.
    – You’ve got to genuinely like people.
    – And you’ve got to enjoy life.
    Then you can do great things in public life.

    John is my model for those kids and for what I hope they will do.