Saugus officials offer reflections on Leuci

SAUGUS – Janet Leuci was a quiet force of nature who died Wednesday after a 12-year battle with cancer but she left in her wake an indelible imprint on the town of Saugus through more than 20 years of public service and a lifetime of caring.”She was really a person of goodness,” said Town Meeting member Robert Long, his voice breaking. “I think that is about the most I can say about somebody.”Unflappable, intelligent, remarkable and classy are a few of the words used to describe Leuci by her friends and colleagues.A 22-year Town Meeting member, Leuci also served on the Planning Board, was instrumental in keeping Trimont/Aggregate Industries, the Route 99 quarry, from encroaching into the neighborhood, pushed developers to incorporate cluster zoning in the Avalon Bay housing development on Main Street, which resulted in 50 percent of land being kept for open space, and authored much of the town’s Affordable Housing Act. Long said most recently Leuci, despite her illness, also worked on a plan to preserve the town’s historic Mill District.Town Manager Scott Crabtree said Leuci was the advocate of many in her devotion for working families, in her work for affordable housing and her stance against developers on the Aggregate Post Closure Committee.”She was an amazing person in all that she committed to Saugus,” said Crabtree.Fellow Precinct 4 Town Meeting member Al DiNardo said it was really the Trimont issue that propelled Leuci to get involved and run for Town Meeting.”The first thing I learned is it’s always about the neighborhood,” he said. “It was always about protecting the neighborhood.”Long said when it came to Precinct 4 “she protected that like she was a mother hen.”DiNardo joked that whatever Leuci did, she did it right because after more than two decades she continued to top the ticket in Precinct 4.”No matter how many doors I knocked on she was doing something I could never do and she did it again just this past November,” he said.DiNardo said the fact that residents voted her back into office despite her illness is a testament to how much they appreciated what she did for them.”She was very smart, very strong, dignified,” he said. “She had a lot of class, which is something we see less and less of. I learned a lot from her over the years.”Precinct 10 meeting member Peter Manoogian, who called Leuci a personal friend whom he spoke with daily, said she was also a role model for Saugus politics, not because she often topped the ticket, but because of the respect she gave for even those who disagreed with her.”She spoke with conviction, she was convincing, clear, well-researched and thorough,” said Manoogian. “She was the greatest advocate you could ever ask for.”Long agreed. He joked that even if you opposed Leuci, she spoke with such integrity that it made you begin to question your own logic.”You’d end up abandoning your side,” he said.Long said she was also the person others turned to when they needed an issue sorted out or addressed head on.”She wasn’t afraid to cast a vote on the losing side if it was something she believed in,” said Manoogian. “She would have yard sales and bake sales to hire attorneys and use her own money to fight for the neighborhood.”Manoogian said Leuci’s personal tragedies and long battle with cancer never affected her service to the town. “This woman would come from Mass General hospital from chemotherapy treatments and go to a meeting.”But, as Long, Manoogian and DiNardo all pointed out, she also never sought recognition for what she did.People held her in high regard and respected her “as a good, intelligent person who wants to do the best for Saugus, her imprint is really greater than anyone realizes,” Long said.On top of all of her civic work, Leuci also raised four sons and worked as a foreign language teacher. Long, who shared a long friendship with both Janet and her husband Bill, said the Leuci house was like a daycare when the kids were young.”There were always kids coming and goin