Stephen Lewis is dead.
A mere two days after his son, Avi Lewis,
was elected as the national leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP),
Stephen’s life ended in hospice care in Toronto.
Former leader of the NDP in Ontario (1970-78),
Canadian ambassador
to the United Nations (1984-88),
executive director of UNICEF (1995-99),
and UN Special Envoy
for HIV/AIDS in Africa (2001-2006),
Stephen Lewis was a tower of moral courage
wedded to an unmatched oratorial eloquence.
Lewis came by his political passion
and vision honestly.
His father was David Lewis,
former national leader of the NDP (1971-75).
When I was an undergraduate student
at the University of Toronto,
I would often slip into the Ontario Legislature during Question Time,
specifically to watch Stephen Lewis debate the government of the day.
It was an education in both public speaking
and in what civil discourse might look like.
Bill Davis was the Progressive Conservative premier of the province,
and in the back and forth between Lewis and Davis,
there was both sharp and principled disagreement
and an observable level of mutual respect and civility.
Somehow holding together that kind of passion for justice,
without demonizing his political opponent,
Lewis modelled for me what public discourse should look like.
Years later, I was driving across Davenport Road in Toronto,
(it says something that I remember exactly where I was),
and Stephen was being interviewed on the radio.
He was talking about the moral obligation
of the Western world to end the scourge
of HIV/AIDS in Africa.
This was something that was clearly within sight,
if there would be the will and the money of the West to act.
This, Stephen insisted, was a moral issue at the very heart
of our civilization.
The passion in his voice,
the intensity and gravity of the issue,
created a silence in the car.
It was just me and my daughter Madeleine,
and somehow that little girl in the back seat
knew that whatever this man was talking about,
she should not interrupt.
And then, this little voice asked,
“Daddy, is that man praying?”
Tears running down my face I replied,
“Yes, Madeleine, that man is praying.”
Stephen was born into a Jewish family,
and given the Hebrew name “Sholem,”
derived from the biblical word, “Shalom.”
And while we know little of Stephen’s faith life,
I want to testify that, from my experience,
Stephen Lewis lived up to the promise of his name.
“Daddy, is that man praying?”
Yes, Madeleine,
yes, to those who mourn Stephen’s passing,
yes, Stephen’s family,
Stephen was praying.
You don’t have that depth of moral vision,
you don’t have that passion for justice,
you don’t have such a profound love,
without prayer.
The life of Stephen Lewis was a prayer.
And that prayer leads me to prayers
of deep, deep gratitude.
