Dr. Firth Haring Fabend informed the Jacob Leisler Institute on February 18 that she was resigning as president of the Institute’s board of trustees, remaining until the nominating committee found a replacement. Dr. Fabend had been the founding president of the Leisler Institute board since its inception in 2014, and her hard work and dedication helped put the Institute on the firm foundation it has today. Her wisdom and experience guided the Institute through territories we were unfamiliar with and we are deeply appreciative. We look forward to her continuing advice while she now has more time to devote to other affairs.
To fill the position of board president, the Leisler Institute trustees have unanimously elected trustee Sarah Burrows Winch. Ms. Winch, an author, poet, and noted photographer, graduated from Hobart and William Smith Colleges with a B.A. in English and history, and has a business background in sales with multiple companies, including the Boston publishing firm CFO Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of The Economist, London. A native of Syracuse, New York, she now resides in Vermont with her husband, with whom she has three sons. Under the nom de plume Sarah Tracy Burrows, Kent State University Press recently published her Yours Affectionately, Osgood: Colonel Osgood Vose Tracy’s Letters Home from the Civil War, 1862–1865, which she collaborated on with Civil War historian Ryan Keating. She is a direct descendant of Jacob Leisler’s through his daughter Hester.