Mr. Fix-It From '83

Usually it's the college dean who helps a student get out of trouble. For Leon Trefler '83 it happened the other way around.

Our story really starts when Leon was an undergraduate a history major, a news editor of The Dartmouth, and a member of SAE—headed for law school. But his father died suddenly and Leon was the obvious choice to take charge of the company that his grandfather had founded and his father had run: Trefler & Sons.

Based in Newton, Mass., the company has been respected for many years in art circles for its museumquality restoration. Except for books and furniture it tackles virtually all objets d'art: paintings, documents, wood, jade, porcelain, ceramics, glass, metal. In addition to museums it serves individual collectors throughout the U.S. and in Japan, moving companies, insurance companies, and institutions such as Dartmouth, Harvard, Brandeis. In fact, it was an unnamed Dartmouth dean whose reputation Trefler & Sons was called on to restore by secretly putting back together an expensive alumni gift the dean had inadvertently damaged.

Leon himself isn't a restorer, though he does get involved in some projects other than administration. But his wife, Lynne Colwell '84, is a paintings conservator—she was a double major in art/economics when not taking care of their fourmonth-old daughter.

Next time you have a shattering experience, get in touch with Leon Trefler. He says, "Nothing is hopeless."