Lester Silverman dies while on vacation
Lester Silverman in front of his Metlox Plaza optometry center in March 2015. Easy Reader file photo
Lester Silverman, an optometrist, and longtime community activist died Monday while on vacation in Jamaica with his brother. According to initial reports, he was caught in a riptide while swimming and drowned.
Former mayor Mark Burton, a good friend, and fellow Rotarian notified club members of Silverman’s passing in an email Tuesday morning.
“Les was a man of great passion, devoted to his family and his community,” Burton wrote. “Les will be greatly missed by many.”
Silverman operated Look! Optometry Center in Metlox Plaza, where he was known for the personal warmth of his approach as well as his adeptness.
“I want to become the optometrist of the community,” he said after winning 2014 Best of the Beach award. “It’s pretty fun. Working with people I know and like, it affords me the opportunity to be a pillar of the community. It’s very gratifying.”
Community was a key value in Silverman’s life. He and his wife Angie relished their involvement with many different aspects of the Manhattan Beach community. In addition to the Rotary Club, Silverman served on both the city’s Library Commission and the Parking and Public Improvement Commission and was an active member of the Foundation of Local Arts, which his wife co-founded, and a member the 2006 class of Leadership Manhattan Beach. Silverman served as the MBUSD School Board’s liaison for one of the elementary schools, was a corporate sponsor of the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation., and was a PTA member.
“He was an activist,” said Mark Lipps, the CEO of the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce. “He was always involved. He ran a successful business in downtown Manhattan Beach for years, but he was also the model of the kind of person who lived here and really got involved in his community.”
Councilperson Richard Montgomery was a customer, friend, and fellow Rotarian who enjoyed Silverman’s unswerving straightforwardness, professionalism, and often wild candor.
“He was a pain in the ass liberal from Berkley and I loved him,” Montgomery said. “No matter what you thought, he let you have it. Politics aside, he really did his job and took care of me…We didn’t see politics through the same lens, but he’s someone you could always run an idea by. He would tell you, with no filter, what he thought about it. Les was just a great guy.”
Memorial arrangements are pending.