While the inner workings of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) remain secretive to most, Jeremy Lewin ’15 was in the room where it happened. Often associated with Elon Musk, President Donald Trump’s DOGE initiative has sought to overhaul many government programs, including dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and its incorporation into the U.S. State Department.
Mr. Lewin, one of the DOGE members who once oversaw the gutting of USAID, is now in charge of that very agency, as of press time. In March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio appointed Mr. Lewin as the deputy administrator for policy and programs and as the chief operating officer.
Mr. Lewin came to the school as a sophomore in 2012, where he was an editor for the Point of View (POV) and a member of the debate and Model U.N. teams. He was a winner of the National Merit Scholarship. The school yearbook awarded Mr. Lewin with the “Life of the Party” senior superlative alongside Emily Kohlberg ’15, while his Vanguard superlative was “Most likely to tell you about his weekend.”
Mr. Lewin did not respond to The Vanguard’s requests for an interview. His former teachers at the school also declined to comment. A former classmate who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation against his work said that while he was shocked to hear about Mr. Lewin’s involvement in the government, Mr. Lewin was the least surprising option of anyone in the Class of 2015.
“He was known for taking very polarizing and politically charged positions on a lot of things,” the classmate said. “He was known as the resident conservative. He really liked taking up positions and opinions that were ones that were going to rile people up and get attention.”
Mr. Lewin wrote a number of articles for the POV, including one criticizing former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. The classmate described Mr. Lewin as extremely conservative for 2015 and recalled him having racist tendencies.
“I don’t have any specifics, but I definitely remember him saying things like certain types of people are inherently inferior than other types of people.”
Mr. Lewin’s time at the school was problematic, the classmate said.
“If you’ve seen the articles, basically everything in those articles is true,” he said. “He was a deeply troubled kid that I think craved attention from people and would do anything to get attention.”
Mr. Lewin was known for throwing parties, especially after school events like Homecoming.
“He could get pressured into doing things for people.”
His classmate said Mr. Lewin was known for activities like providing alcohol, organizing fake IDs and helping people buy drugs. He would also frequently get violent, which led to incidents such as when Mr. Lewin threw a bowl at a student in the Commons, the classmate said.
“You never really knew when he was gonna fly off the handle.”
This behavior was, in part, due to factors outside of school, his classmate said.
“It’s a multi-sided story because, at the end of the day, he certainly was having a kind of a tough time. He certainly was socially not well-adjusted and had some home life issues. People were never very nice to him, so I think that’s a part of it.”
According to The Boston Globe, his father, Michael Lewin, is a concert pianist, and his mother, Dora Present Lewin, is a banker. His parents are now divorced.
Mr. Lewin often lied to appear cooler, the classmate said.
“He was a pathological liar. I remember his first couple weeks of school, he came and told everyone that he was some superstar lacrosse player at Commonwealth, where he transferred from. Then, he tried out for the varsity team at BB&N, and it was clear he never held a lacrosse stick in his life.”
Mr. Lewin’s frequent stories made it hard to know when he was telling the truth, the classmate said.
After graduation, Mr. Lewin attended Dartmouth College. He has not attended any reunions of his class to date.
