Bill Walczak, the pioneering Dorchester civic and health activist who was a candidate for mayor of Boston last year, will join one of the city's leading progressive foundations as its first president. Walczak will lead the Lewis Family Foundation, which has donated more $130 million in more than 60 countries since its launch in 1981.

“We are delighted to have Bill join the Lewis Family Foundation as we work to make real, lasting and positive change,” said Harriet Lewis, chairman of the Lewis Family Foundation, in a statement issued today. “Bill’s entire career has been dedicated to social change."

"He is a big thinker who can make the seemingly impossible happen, and he is willing to be provocative and bold on behalf of those most in need. We hope that with Bill’s leadership, we will be able to effect significant change in Boston and around the world.”

Walczak, a Savin Hill resident, founded and led the Codman Square Health Center, which has been heralded as a engine for revitalizing that part of Dorchester. Walczak served as Codman's president/CEO for 36 years and also helped to launch Codman Academy Charter School, a K-12 school that was the first school in the U.S. to be located inside a health center. Most recently, Walczak was a vice president at Shawmut Design and Construction Company.

The Lewis Family Foundation is focused on "building strong communities and cultures in the family’s hometowns of Boston, Massachusetts and Kensington, New Hampshire and in the villages where Grand Circle Corporation, the Lewis family’s international travel company, visits." Locally, the foundation has been focused on improving college graduation rates in city neighborhoods. Walczak will also oversee Grand Circle Foundation, the charitable arm of Grand Circle Corporation. Since its establishment in 1992, Grand Circle Foundation has supported more than 300 humanitarian, cultural, and educational organizations worldwide, including about 100 schools, in 50 countries.