Leonard “Lenny” Hersch

Leonard Hersch, the colorful and outspoken former Hull selectman whose brash style endeared him to some and infuriated others, died Wednesday night at home. He was 78. “Lenny’s been a fixture in this community for probably 60 years,” Hull Town Manager Philip Lemnios said today. “He was a great advocate for the community. I think it does represent a bit of an end of an era.” Hersch was well-known as a straight-talking man of his word who never shied away from a fight. “What a lot of people don’t know about Lenny is that he helped a lot of people, just quietly,” Lemnios said. Hersch ran Fascination, a Nantasket beachfront hall, for more than 60 years and was active in the Hull Nantasket Beach Chamber of Commerce and town politics, including the push for condominium development in this seaside town in the 1980s. He served five terms as a selectman, including three years as the board’s chairman, and he was an elected member of the board of assessors. He lost the last time he ran for office, in 2005, when he was a selectman candidate. But he kept fighting for what he thought best for Hull. “Lennie’s a fighter. He’s a scrapper. He’s a West Ender, from the old West End,” former Selectman Jerry McLaughlin said of Hersch in October. This past fall, selectmen gave Hersch a proclamation thanking him for “his vision, determination and tireless efforts” on Hull’s behalf. Hersch thanked the board for its kind words, then launched into a criticism of a plan he considered detrimental to the town. Hersch helped established the annual concert series held at the Bernie King Pavilion on Nantasket Beach. When state funding for the concerts dried up, he helped arrange for the popular summer music series to continue. When the town’s days as a seaside amusement center were winding down in the 1980s, Hersch pushed condo development, saying it was was a way to expand the town’s tax base without creating major demand for municipal services. “I was always pro-development, especially after they tore Paragon down,” Hersch told the Patriot Ledger last fall, referring to the amusement park that closed in 1985. As a local activist, he also organized a State House rally to protest water-rate increases for Hingham and Hull. Hersch was born in Boston’s former West End neighborhood and graduated from Boston English High School. He attended Suffolk University and later became a real estate broker, maintaining an office in Hull for many years. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy (Giovannucci) Hersch, two stepchildren, Ellen Giovannucci and Scott Giovannucci of Hull, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. A funeral procession will leave from Pyne Keohane Funeral Home, 21 Emerald St., Hingham, at 12:30 p.m. Friday. A graveside service in the Jewish section of Hull Village Cemetery will follow at 1. The Shiva memorial observance will be private. Donations may be made in Lenny’s memory to the Summer Concert Series c/o Town Clerk, Hull Town Hall, 253 Atlantic Ave. Hull, MA 02045