Leon "Lee" Greenfield Obituary (1941 - 2023)

Former State Rep. Lee Greenfield (81) of Minneapolis; b. July 29, 1941, d. Feb. 7, 2023. Preceded by his parents, Solomon and Edith Greenfield and his brother, Jerome; survived by spouse Marcia Greenfield; brother, Sidney (Ellie) Greenfield, niece Suzanne (Joseph Shapiro), nephew David and grandnieces Lena and Eva Shapiro, and hundreds of friends and former colleagues. Lee grew up in Brooklyn, NY and graduated from Stuyvesant High School; he earned his B.S. in Physics from Purdue University and went on to graduate school in Philosophy of Science at the University of Minnesota, where he met the love of his life, Marcia Donow. While teaching at the U of M, Lee became a leader in the Anti-Vietnam War movement in Minnesota and turned his progressive ideas into action by managing campaigns of others for elected office. He finally ran for the Legislature himself in 1978 and was elected to represent the West Bank, Seward, Phillips, and Longfellow neighborhoods and part of Southeast. During his 22 years as a Legislator, Lee worked on a wide variety of issues, but was best known as one of the “Gang of Seven” who created MinnesotaCare in the 1991/92 biennium. Thousands and thousands of Minnesotans have had and will have access to health care because of Lee’s work. Lee subsequently chaired the House Health and Human Services Finance Division, where he worked to improve the lives of nursing home residents and staff and low-income families and to protect vulnerable adults from abuse, neglect and financial exploitation. Lee used his experience to help those from other states as an active participant in the “Reforming States Group” which was part of the Milbank Foundation; he worked for many years as a nationally recognized expert advising state governments across the country on health care reform. After retiring from the House in 2001, Lee worked on health care policy issues for Hennepin County until 2009. Lee and Marcia shared many interests including travel, cooking, and of course the combination of politics and public policy. Lee has been known as a kind and caring person who acted on his beliefs to make the world a better place and will be missed by many. Zoom memorial service on Wednesday, February 15, 2023 at 12 noon CST www.tinyurl.com/LeonGreenfield In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations in Lee’s name to Minnesota Elder Justice Center, St. Paul, MN or the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection, University of Minnesota Libraries.