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Les Lowenthal, long-time ACC member, passed away March 28,2003, just 5 days short of his 82nd birthday. Les contributed to our Club in numerous capacities for many years and served as ACC President from 1986 to 1989. Most recently he has been RD Chair West since1997 until just a few weeks ago. Les also was very active in the formation of the AKC Hunt Test program and served as President of the Master National Retriever- Club in the early 90’s. In September 2003, Les and wife Nancy received the ACC Lifetime Achievement Award in honor of their many years of commitment to the Club and our breed. Les will be missed by many, but remembered always, for the big part he played in the past, present, and future of the ACC. (Diane Mazy, ACC President)
Les Lowenthal was an example for all of us to follow. He and Nancy showed us by example how to do it the right way, whether to accept defeat, celebrate victory, or empathize with someone else who was going through a tough time. He was legendary with his ability to tell it like it is. He could tell you to go to heck and gone and you would end up thanking him for it and asking him the best way to heck and gone. Les and Nancy were a team for 60 years. They worked tirelessly for the ACC and for retrievers in general. They were the first ACC Regional Directors in California, started California’s Chesapeake Days, participated in field, show, and obedience, and had the first two Champion UD bitches out here. Les and a couple of others designed the original WD program for the ACC. Les was on the AKC committee that designed the start of the hunt test program and later, the Master National. He was ACC president and then continued as the head of RD’s West. From the very beginning he had friends of all ages, older, younger, and contemporaries.
Together Les and Nancy raised three sons and now have six terrific grandchildren. For many of us here in California, they showed us how to survive parenthood with a good sense of humor along with some very practical techniques, among them calling Nancy and Les and asking for advice at critical moments.
To say we will miss him is a huge understatement. It now takes six of us to attempt to do all that they have done through the years for the ACC. And we will always remember that we are doing these activities for the Club, not for our own gain or prestige. It is just part of the model setup for us so solidly by Les and Nancy. (Alex Starr, for Northern California members of The American Chesapeake Club)
Les had so many connections both in and outside the Chessie world. Starting with his and Nancy’s involvement with both the RD and the WD programs. He greatly expanded on the original RD concept, and encouraged regional involvement on many levels, all across the country. Picnic days, fun trials, WD stakes, these were his favorite activities outside the duck blind. He loved to work with newcomers and encourage them to develop their dogs to their fullest capacity, be it for hunting, hunt tests, or field trials.
If not for Les, we wouldn’t have the WDQ title. It was Les who recognized the need for a handling title in the WD program. He strongly believed two things: every dog should be force fetched to retrieve reliably, and every dog should know at least the rudiments of handling on blinds, so as to be a more serviceable gun dog. He clarified running rules and judging rules for the program, and educated anyone within reach about the real reasons for the WD program: to develop good working skills in ALL Chesapeakes; and to develop a love for retrieving sports in their owners. Many people now running their dogs in hunt tests and field trials got bitten by the “bug” while attending their first WD stake.
Les loved hunt tests. How many people know that Les was one of the early movers and shakérs of the hunt test programs? When the “new’ organization, NAHRA, was forming and working with AKC in the early 1980s, Les was a member and liaison between NAHRA, AKC and the ACC. He contributed much information and ideas to the fledgling hunt test movement. After AKC and NAHRA went their separate ways, Les acted as an advisor to the early AKC hunt test. Many of the early developments to the AKC hunt test program were from Les, and some of the rules and testing concepts were lifted almost verbatim from the WD/X/Q program.
When it came to field trials, Les was a real trooper. He bucked the system when so many people held strong prejudices against the breed in field trials. When the breed was going through some lean times in the late seventies and early eighties, with very few QAA dogs running, Les and Nancy would “collect” as many QAA dogs as they could, enter and bring them to the specialty trials in the US and Canada, just to make sure that there were enough QAA dogs starting to make the trial count for points. This was true dedication and sportsmanship. So many of our working Chessies also descend from Les and Nancy’s breeding program.
Les’ judging style was legendary. He did not believe that one needed to create a “trick” test to judge dogs. He believed that. if one set up an honest test and let the dogs run, that the dogs-would sort it out for themselves. Because of this clear judging concept, Les was one of the few people who could judge equally well for field trials, hunt, tests, and working certificate tests. One of his favorite things to say during a hunt test scenario was “All the dogs should be able to do this.” And this was true, for he believed that a straightforward test should showcase a dog’s skills, and a judge should simply record what he/she saw.
When it came down to judging, running dogs, or training, Les was more than willing to work for the good of the sport, and more importantly, for the betterment of this breed he loved so well. If you love the breed, then Les considered you a friend. Les was a terrific mentor for training, handling, and for judging. He was always free with information and advice. All of us who train, test/trial, hunt with or just plain love our Chessies have some connection with Les, be it through his mentoring at training days, kindly advice at WD tests, judging at hunt tests and field trials, or through the Berteleda bloodline. I feel privileged to have known Les! (Lisa Van Loo)
Published in the March/April 2003 American Chesapeake Club Bulletin