[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 67 (Monday, April 19, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H1947]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                         HONORING ROBERT LEDER

  (Mr. TORRES of New York asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. TORRES of New York. Madam Speaker, Robert Leder, as his name 
would suggest, was a natural leader, loved by the thousands of students 
whose lives he lifted.
  I, for one, would not be here were it not for Robert Leder, who set 
me on a trajectory that led from public housing in the Bronx to the 
House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. My story is a mere 
footnote in the much larger legacy of public service that Robert Leder 
left behind after his passing in 2018.
  Mr. Leder entered public education in the 1960s as a Spanish teacher. 
In the late 1970s, he rose to become the principal of Herbert H. Lehman 
High School in the Bronx, a position he held for nearly three decades, 
making him, at the time, the longest-serving educator in America's 
largest city. As principal, he knew the name of every student. He held 
everyone around him to the highest standards, but he held himself to 
the highest standard of all.
  We, the alumni of Lehman High School, will always love you, Mr. 
Leder. We will never forget you.
  I will not always be a Member of Congress, but I will always be the 
grateful student of the greatest educator I have ever known, Robert 
Leder. May he rest in peace.

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