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Setti Warren, the director of Harvard’s Institute of Politics and a former mayor of Newton, died suddenly over the weekend. He was 55. Harvard Kennedy School Dean Jeremy M. Weinstein and Harvard College Dean David Deming announced Warren’s death in an email message on Sunday, a copy of which is posted to the school’s website. It was not immediately clear how or when Warren died. “Setti was a beloved member of our community, and we are devastated by this heartbreaking news,” Weinstein and Deming said in the statement. Warren became the first popularly elected African American mayor in Massachusetts when he won the mayoralty in Newton in 2009. An Iraq war veteran, he later ran for U.S. Senate and governor of Massachusetts. “It’s often said that the measure of a person’s life is found in their service to others — and by that standard, Setti’s life stands as an example to us all,” Weinstein and Deming said in the statement. “Whenever he saw a challenge, he ran toward it — not away from it — and our university and country are better for it.” Warren was tapped as executive director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard in 2018, after concluding his tenure as mayor in Newton. He became the director of the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School in 2022. At Harvard, Warren will be remembered as a “visionary and tireless leader who helped steer these institutions as they hosted prominent speakers and fellows from across the political divide, conducted groundbreaking research, and fostered debate and engagement on the most challenging issues of our time,” the officials said. Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller praised Warren’s “passion for public service and ... unshakeable belief that government can be a force for good,” in a statement, according to The Newton Beacon. Warren leaves behind his wife, Tassy, the co-executive director and chief strategy officer at Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child, and two children, Abigail and John. Massachusetts political leaders took to social media to remember Warren. U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, a Democrat whose district includes Newton, wrote on X that “Massachusetts has lost a bright light much too young.” “Setti Warren was my mayor, my friend, and an exemplar to everyone of public service,” Auchincloss wrote. “When I first ran for city council, it was his style of door-to-door dynamism that inspired me. I grieve for his wife, Tassy, and his children. May his life and work inspire for years to come.” U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-7th District, who worked with Warren in former U.S. Sen. John Kerry’s office, said she was heartbroken to learn of his death. “Setti was a loving son, brother, dedicated husband, and father. He was always ready with a hug, an easy and deep laugh, and kind eyes that twinkled,” Pressley wrote on X, adding that the pair had “communicated” on Saturday night. “What a tremendous loss for our country, our Commonwealth, the community of Newton, Harvard, the Democratic Party, and all of humanity.”
