Leslie Kathleen Thiele, 70, of Schenectady NY, a Past President of the Fulbright Association, died on April 23, 2023, of complications from Alzheimer’s disease.
Leslie was born on August 11, 1952, in Wenatchee, Wash., the daughter of James W. Thiele and Mary M. Thiele. The family moved to Everett, Wash., where she lived until she went to college at the University of Redlands in California. She graduated in 1974 with a bachelor’s degree in government. After college, Leslie spent a year year in Germany before entering law school at Duke University in Durham, N.C. Upon completing her second year of law school, she received a Fulbright Fellowship for legal studies at the Institute for International Law at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel, Germany. While there she also worked as a research assistant on the German Yearbook of International Law. In 1978 her Fulbright Scholarship was extended for a second yar of study and she began research toward her thesis for her Master of Law degree. She spent two years in Germany, then returned to Duke University’s Law School, graduating with J.D. and L.L.M. degrees in 1980. Her thesis topic was “The Protection of Privacy Against State Invasion in the Federal Republic of Germany.”
In 1980 she joined the Philadelphia law firm of Saul Ewing Remick & Saul. After four years there, she left Saul Ewing to work for a small law firm created by two partners with whom she had worked at the larger firm. She also became senior vice president for an international trade and development company. Leslie then joined a consulting firm, at which she advised foreign companies wishing to do business in the U.S.
It was during these years that that she joined the Board of the then-named Fulbright Alumni Association, headquartered at Bryn Mawr College in suburban Philadelphia. She was chosen as President-Elect for 1985 and served as President in 1986 and Past President in 1987.
Those were years of important change and growth for the Alumni Association. She spearheaded an effort to broaden the representation on the board beyond the academics who had been the previous leadership, inviting Fulbright alumni in business and other disciplines to bring their expertise to the Association’s deliberations.1
It was during this period that the Board made the decision to hire an Executive Director, Harriet Fulbright, as the first paid staff member in May 1987. They changed the logo and. most importantly, relocated from a suburban college campus to downtown Washington DC where the Association could more effectively advocate for the Fulbright Exchange Program.
In 1986, Leslie married Ken Larsen, whom she had met in North Carolina in 1979 and persuaded to move to Philadelphia in 1982. In 1989, Leslie and Ken moved to Schenectady NY, where she returned to the practice of law, hanging out her shingle at their home. Leslie, as a solo practitioner, had difficulty attracting the international corporate work she was accustomed to and pivoted to the practice of immigration law. She quickly developed a bustling practice, including all of the immigration needs of General Electric Research and other companies. In 1996, she was asked to join the Albany law firm Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, where she founded their immigration and international business practice group. Leslie was proud of building and leading this practice, but prouder of the clients that she enabled to immigrate to the U.S. to accomplish their life’s dreams. She enjoyed going to the citizenship ceremonies of the clients for whom she had acquired their first visas.
In 1993, Leslie and Ken adopted a son Jamie from Paraguay, and in 1997 a daughter Gabby from Guatemala. She loved them fiercely and unconditionally. In her early 50’s, Leslie took up ice hockey and was a founding member of the Frozen Assets women’s hockey team. One of her greatest joys was playing on the team after her daughter Gabby joined it. In Schenectady, Leslie and Ken first lived in the Stockade and later in the GE Realty Plot. She
cherished their gracious old house in the Plot, where she enjoyed hosting Christmas Eve carol sings and their annual “waifs and strays” Thanksgiving dinners. Leslie also enjoyed welcoming international visitors. During their time living in the Plot, they hosted visitors from China, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia, and Zimbabwe for stays ranging from three days to three months.
Leslie was deeply involved in her community. She was a member of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Scotia and chaired a committee that planned and oversaw a major addition to the church. She was, at various times, on the boards of the International Center of the Capital Region, the Empire State Youth Orchestra, the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Schenectady County, and the Silver Bay YMCA on Lake George. She also was president of the Fulbright Alumni Association in 1986.
Leslie was predeceased by her parents and by her brother, Mark. She is survived by her husband, Ken; her son, Jamie Thiele of West Palm Beach FL.; her daughter, Gabby Thiele and daughter-in-law, Courtney Thiele of Scotia NY; and her grandson, Riley Clum of Troy NY.
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/timesunion-albany/name/leslie-thiele-obituary?id=51723534
1 As a personal note, I was one of the “young Turks” she recruited to join the Board in 1985 and, based on my corporate business experience, served as the (then titled) VP of Finance.