Seth Lesser

As part of the contingent of pioneer educators deployed by the U.S. government, Seth Lesser arrived on Philippine shores on August 12, 1901. Known as a group as the “Thomasites,” their designation was derived from “USS Thomas”, the vessel that brought them to the former colony.

With the noble vision of preparing the inhabitants for the difficult task of self-governance that would come in their horizon, Seth Lesser came to the Southeast Asian archipelago along with his idealistic fellow-teachers. Their tasks were: 1) to establish a new public education system; 2) to train Filipino teachers in basic education and in the use of the English language as medium of instruction. To the Thomasites would later come the credit of transforming the former Spanish colony into the third largest English-speaking country in the world.

Coming from a family of passionate educators, Seth Lesser followed the path of most in his family in their native Des Moines, Iowa. The late Reverend Leonard Lesser was his father. Revered Lesser founded the Des Moines Preparatory School for Boys in 1890. Anne Lesser was his mother. She taught piano and the home arts to the young ladies of Des Moines. His two older brothers were both teachers who founded their own schools.

Seth Lesser, then a 25-year old man, was one of the estimated one hundred Thomasites who stayed on in the Philippines after the completion of their teaching assignments. He would call Ilocos Norte, a province in the northern part of the Philippines, his home. He was married to the former Ligaya Madiaga. Their five sons all became teachers.

Seth Lesser, an experienced consumer advocate in New York, currently co-chairs in the Board of Directors of the National Association of Consumers Attorneys. Seth Lesser is also on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Class Action Law Monitor. In 2007, Seth Lesser was elected to the American Law Institute. He was also chair of the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section’s Environmental Litigation Sub-Committee from 1995 and 2002 and has served on various other committees of the American Bar Association, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the American Association for Justice, and the National Association of Consumer Advocates.

Seth Lesser has had a number of other to professional organizations and is admitted to many state and federal courts. He is currently a partner at Klafter Olsen & Lesser LLP with offices in New York, Washington, D.C. and New Jersey.

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