My personal, professional, and civic experience shapes my leadership approach and vision for Newton. I grew up in Newton, raised my family in Newton, and have served our city government for over 20 years.

My Personal Story

My parents were Jewish immigrants from Europe.  My father left Nazi Germany as a teenager and my mother came to the United States from Czechoslovakia after having been a child survivor of the Terezin concentration camp.

We moved to Newton when I was a small child, and I attended the Newton Public Schools (Cabot, Bigelow, and Newton North), as did my younger brother Dan and my sister Debbie. At Newton North, I ran cross-country (where I was one of the captains) and indoor and outdoor track, wrote for the school newspaper, and was the co-business manager of the high school yearbook.

Growing up, my parents instilled in us the values of hard work, education, and a profound respect for democratic values and service to our community.

As a small child, I remember standing at the polls while my mother held a sign for a candidate.  Voting was a sacred obligation, because it represented the importance of democratic government and an especially important right of citizenship for my immigrant parents.

I had my first official job when I was 11 years old, delivering newspapers before school.  When I was in high school and during part of college, I worked as a busboy, waiter, short order cook (a surprise to my family since I am the worst cook among us) and night manager at the Pewter Pot restaurant in Newtonville. At the same time, I spent several summers working for the City of Newton’s Recreation Department as a playground leader.

But I also know from first-hand experience that appearances are not everything.  My father was diagnosed with leukemia when I was a teenager and died after my sophomore year of college, and my family had serious financial difficulties during this time. 

After my father’s death, my mother insisted that I return to college, and my brother, sister, and I earned undergraduate and graduate degrees.  I was fortunate enough to attend Cornell University (where I met my wife Roberta) and the University of Pennsylvania Law School with the help of considerable scholarships and loans, as well as full-time jobs in the summer and part-time jobs during the school year.

Roberta and I returned to Newton to raise our three children, Josh, Matt, and Emma, all of whom are graduates of the Newton Public Schools (Ward, Bigelow, and Newton North), as is our daughter-in-law, Joanna Yelen (who graduated from Newton North with Matt).  We are the proud grandparents of their daughter Dahlia!

Roberta is a dietitian with a private practice in Newton Centre, the co-President of the Temple Emanuel Sisterhood, and a member of Temple Emanuel’s board of directors. As do many families, we have juggled raising our family with our work and community activities.

My Civic Life

Prior to being elected Mayor I served as President of the Newton City Council and have been an elected member of Newton’s city government since 2002. I first served for eight years on the School Committee (where I served as vice chair and then chair) and then, after a two-year break, as a City Councilor-at-Large from Ward 7 since 2012.

In addition to serving as an elected official, I have also been actively involved in other community activities, including at Temple Emanuel, where I served on the Board of Trustees and co-chaired the Nominating and Governance Committee; a member of the Board of Directors of Middlesex  Partnerships for Youth; the chair of the Ward 7 Democratic Committee; and a Newton youth soccer coach for many years.

My Professional Life

I was one of the founders and the former managing partner of my Boston-based law firm, Laredo, Smith & Kane, LLP (now Smith/Kane, LLP after my departure), where I concentrated my practice in the areas of business litigation and general business law. A considerable amount of my practice involved working with small and medium-sized businesses, advising them on issues such as the initial formation and maintenance of the business entity, contract and employment matters, crisis situations, and exit strategies.

Early in my career, I served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Bureau of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, where I handled appellate cases and economic crimes prosecutions and wrote the winning brief in a case that was decided by the United States Supreme Court.

I was honored to have been selected by Super Lawyers as one of the Top 100 lawyers in Boston. I have also been active in professional affairs, including serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the Massachusetts Law Review, an author of numerous articles, a speaker at many continuing education programs, and a member of the Boston Bar Association’s Law Firm Leadership Forum.