Jesse A. Silesky, 13, an 8th grader at Newberry Academy on the North Side whose wit and common sense in the face of yearlong cancer treatments made him one of the best-known pupils in his class, died Wednesday, Jan. 31, of the disease in his home. “He was bright, enthusiastic, a self-motivated learner,” said Newberry Principal Renaud Beaudoin. “He was the kind of kid who seemed to have the right thing to say at the right time. He was the kind of kid who seemed to introduce common sense into any kind of situation.” Classmates at the closely-knit school were saddened by the news Wednesday, he said. A school board crisis intervention team will come to the school this week, and there is discussion of a memorial at what would have been Jesse’s graduation in June. “He didn’t yet have any wild ambitions,” said his father, Barry Silesky. “But he was very verbal and talkative and especially in the last year had become surprisingly kind and considerate to everybody else.” With his twin brother, Seth, he played competitive chess and recently had kept a three-paragraph biographical summary of George Orwell above his desk; when his hair grew in after chemotherapy last fall, he dyed it blue and said it was the result of cancer treatment. In addition to his father and brother, Jesse is survived by his mother, Sharon; his grandmother, Lee Sperling; and grandparents Ruth and Myron Solwitz. Services will be held at 10 a.m. Friday in Emanuel Congregation, 5959 N. Sheridan Rd., Chicago.
