Lester G. Seligman, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, died November 2, 2004, in Urbana, Illinois. He had a distinguished academic career, making major contributions to the study of political leadership and especially the U.S. presidency, and played a leadership role in the profession as well. He was widely admired, not only for the excellence of his teaching and research, but also for his indefatigable optimism, good humor, and generous spirit.

Lester was born in Chicago on February 6, 1918. He earned his B.A., M.S., and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, the latter in 1947 following four years of military service during which he reached the rank of captain. He began his teaching career as an instructor and assistant professor at the University of Chicago, where he worked from 1947 to 1953. He then took a position at the University of Oregon, where he taught for two decades. In 1973 he returned to his home state, taking a position at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was a leading member of the political science department and a productive teacher and scholar for 15 years. His energy and involvement in the profession did not decline when, at the age of 65, he suffered a stroke that significantly impaired his speech and diminished some motor capabilities. Approaching his recovery with remarkable determination and a positive outlook, he soon resumed work and continued teaching and research until retiring, at the age of 70, in 1988. During his remaining 17 years, he continued to be engaged with the discipline, reading widely, especially on the presidency. He published his last book, The Coalitional Presidency, in 1989. He attended departmental seminars, maintained contacts with other Illinois faculty and political scientists at other institutions, and occasionally attended professional meetings. He continued to work on projects concerning the presidency until his final illness.

Throughout his latter years Lester remained physically vigorous, swimming at the university several times a week. Lester and his loving wife Judy had an active social life and were devoted to their family, frequently visiting with their children and grandchildren in Chicago and Madison. In the spring of 2004, Lester was diagnosed with lung cancer and died several months later.

Internationally recognized, Lester held visiting positions at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government; the Brookings Institution; the American Enterprise Institute; the Weizman Institute in Rehovot, Israel; Hebrew University in Jerusalem; the University at Aarhus, Denmark; and the University at Umea, Sweden.

The touchstone of Lester Seligman's research throughout his career was his interest in political leadership, particularly in the context of democratic governments. In more than 30 articles and four books, he inquired into the interplay among leaders, their political parties, and their staffs as they sought to lead their governments and countries. Parts of his work were broadly comparative, focusing on the development of political leadership in Israel, the varying methods by which political parties in different settings recruit candidates for office, and the ways that those methods of recruitment affect the leaders' ability to lead.

But Lester's original and abiding interest, to which he always returned, was how U.S. presidents confronted their leadership roles. He argued that the nation's ability to respond to problems and pursue agendas rested on the efforts of its elected leaders, especially its presidents. His sustained body of research on the American presidency demonstrated the validity and importance of that fundamental insight.

Several of Lester's earliest works explored the conditional nature of political leadership, especially in the American context. As he considered the presidency more specifically, he focused on key factors that affect presidents' ability to provide leadership. He examined the process by which presidents were recruited, nominated, and elected, and the consequences of changes in those processes for their ability to govern. He was especially concerned with how presidents relate to their parties and how those relationships changed in response to changes in the nomination process. He was one of the first scholars to realize and demonstrate that the shift during the 1970s from caucuses to direct primaries as the predominant method of nominating presidential candidates affected the presidents' ability to lead. Caucuses tended to tie presidents close to their parties, which enabled them to use their parties as the foundation of their governing coalitions. However, with the rise of primaries, presidential candidates began to distance themselves from their parties. This weakened parties as coalition-building mechanisms and led presidents to rely increasingly on their personal staffs to help them build governing coalitions.

Lester also studied the behavior of presidents in office, especially how they interacted with staff and advisors, and how those interactions affected their ability to lead. Writing in the 1950s, he demonstrated that the presidency was becoming increasingly institutionalized. This recognition led him to examine the effects that institutionalization had on the workings of the office.

Finally, Lester showed that the policy context within which presidents attempt to assert their leadership was a key determinant of their ability to lead. He distinguished between two fundamentally different contexts—the programmatic and crisis contexts—and demonstrated through case studies that when presidents faced crises, many more resources for leadership were available and the government and people were much more receptive to following their lead. In contrast, when presidents operated in a more routine or programmatic context, they possessed more limited resources and confronted a government and people concerned first with their own interests and prerogatives. All these differences made the presidents' task much more difficult.

Lester not only studied leadership, he also practiced it. He served in numerous positions in the political science profession, but his most important service to the discipline was his central role in establishing the Presidency Research Group (PRG) as an organized section of the American Political Science Association (APSA). Along with a few other leaders of the subfield, Lester conceived the need for the section, sponsored an organizational meeting, generated a constituency for the group, and secured its recognition by APSA. Lester served as the first president of the PRG from 1979–1981, subsequently served on its Executive Council, and was honored for his contributions through permanent designation as a “Founder” of the section.

To those who knew Lester Seligman, more important than all these achievements and contributions was the caring and conscientious manner in which he conducted both his professional and personal life. He was demanding, both of himself and those he worked with. But behind his occasionally stern exterior was a warm and sincere individual who always had the best interests of those around him at heart. He had an infectious laugh that was heard frequently by anyone in his vicinity. He leaves behind a corps of devoted former graduate students who continue to work in many of the fields of study that he initially explored. The good nature and optimism that Lester displayed as he persevered through the difficulties following his stroke inspired those who knew him and stand as a testament to his good will and positive outlook. He is and will be missed.