The sadness of Len Sugarman’s recent passing got me thinking about why he was so important to our community. Sugarman was a community activist, contributing in numerous ways to educational organizations and shepherding the idea of a local spaceport when many others would not. He had vision and drive that allowed him to obtain a quality that many of us in public positions strive for: true leadership.

When I was getting my masters degree, a class on leadership was required. The concept of the class was simple. There are two types of people who hold power: authority figures and leaders.

An authority figure makes decisions with the goal of keeping power, but not with the benefit of the community in mind. Many times, authority figures who hold public office refuse to get involved in contentious issues because whatever decision made will make someone angry. If no one becomes angry, they have a good chance of winning re-election. Though politically safe, this strategy leads to a stagnant society.

A leader, though, has the best interests of the community at heart and will make decisions that cause controversy when he or she believes that the community will benefit. Leaders possess vision—the ability to see beyond the present and to follow policies that allow for progress even when they are not obvious to others. Successful leaders also have the ability to accumulate allies to achieve success.

Leaders do what they believe is right, even if it risks their careers, their reputations, or even their lives because, as it is so often said, “You can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time.” Abraham Lincoln paid for his leadership with his life. His actions, though right and necessary, did not please John Wilkes Booth all of the time. The same price has been paid by John F Kennedy, his brother Bobby, Martin Luther King, Yitzhak Rabin, and Anwar Sadat.

Leaders always go through times of difficulty, whether it be Susan B Anthony in her quest to assure the ability of women to vote, or Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan who both used controversial spending policies to end the Great Depression and Cold War.

Locally, J Paul Taylor has spent his life fighting for the causes of the poor and disadvantaged. His accomplishments include assisting in the foundation of First Step Center, where children of low-income families can be born in a safe and nurturing environment. Rito Medina is another example. Starting as a farm and construction worker, he founded and chaired Tierra del Sol Housing Corporation for 31 years giving uncounted families quality places to live.

That leads us back to Len Sugarman. He went through many trials during his numerous years developing the space industry in southern New Mexico. He was surely told that his ideas were crazy, space exploration was a stupid idea, and funding should be spent on other things. But he believed in the issue, stuck with it, and timed his efforts correctly. It is a pity that only after his death does the space industry in New Mexico start to truly live.

Teddy Roosevelt once said, “It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

Len Sugarman died knowing what it was like to be in the arena, to strive valiantly, and to spend himself for a worthy cause. May we all be so lucky.