Champion fencer kept priorities straight

Former fencing champ George V. Lesser, D.D.S. '39, who will be inducted into the UB Athletic Hall of Fame September 27, always understood the position of sports in his life, even as he continued to win.

"I was never interested in something like the Olympics," says Lesser, winner of the Class A first-place epee title at the 1939 Eastern Intercollegiate Championships. "If you wanted to be a world champion, you couldn't do what I did. Everything to me had a certain priority: family, first; school, second; and fencing, third. Fencing had a minor-but important-role. It allowed me to let off steam and keep in shape physically."

Lesser had come to the university as an experienced fencer, having trained in his native New York City. He went on to serve as UB assistant fencing coach in 1937-38 and head coach in 1938-39.

Long active in the Erie County Dental Society, he was editor of the Eighth District Dental Society Bulletin from 1964-70 and won the international Gies award in 1965 for an editorial on the social responsibilities of dentists.