MANCHESTER — Lewis M. Feldstein, the retired president and chief executive officer of the New Hampshire Charitable Fund, is one of the first four people selected to receive the 2012 Granite State Legacy Awards, presented by the New Hampshire Union Leader and sponsored by Centrix Bank for accomplishments in business, philanthropy, volunteerism and more.

Feldstein, who co-authored a book on the importance of social capital — the value of social networks — entitled “Better Together: Restoring the American Community,” said one of the Granite State's virtues is its size. “You can do things here that are much harder elsewhere,” he said.

Feldstein, 71, did not set out to make a difference in New Hampshire. In fact, he said, his intention growing up, through high school and college and planning additional education, was to work in the developing world.

His education pointed him in that direction: he is a graduate of Brown University and holds a master's degree in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. “I expected to spend much of my life overseas,” he said.

But at 23, while working in Ethiopia and planning to enter the Foreign Service, he read about the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Miss.

“I remember, my whole life changed,” said Feldstein. He said he told his brother: “I need to be there. In America.”

Feldstein came home and became active in the civil rights movement, where he saw what people working together could accomplish. But his career in philanthropy was still far away.

Opportunities such as working as a wine steward for actor John Wayne did not make him want to be an actor and although he worked for former New York Mayor John Lindsay for seven years, “trying to keep alive in New York City politics,” he did not aspire to be a politician.

He did enjoy hosting evening news programs in New York and says one of the few things he wishes he had done more of was work in the media because he was moved by what the press means to our lives.

Coming to New Hampshire was almost a lark. “I came up here with friends,” he said. Somebody in his circle said: “Let's move to New Hampshire.” At the time, he said, he had no idea where New Hampshire was, and he wasn't planning to stay here forever.

He didn't know exactly what he wanted to do, but said: “I did know I wanted to work on issues in public life.”

“The (New Hampshire Charitable) foundation was an excellent place to do that,” he said.

Although Feldstein was the “face” of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation for 24 years, from 1986 until his retirement in 2010, the foundation had been in existence for an equal amount of time.

The foundation was incorporated in 1962, according to the official timeline, but significant asset growth began in 1969, when the Foundation Reform Act was signed into law, creating a distinction between “private” and “public” foundations. Family trusts became subject to federal taxes and restrictions, prompting several New Hampshire family foundations to begin their affiliation with the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.

Before Feldstein was hired as president and CEO of the foundation in 1986, influential state leaders who were foundation board members made decisions and cemented political and business connections that were essential to the foundation's growth and impact. They also set the stage for the foundation's growth as a statewide organization with regional divisions, of which there are now eight, with the Capital Region the most recent, established last year.

Feldstein firmly believes that the foundation should also be an activist. “It's perfectly legal,” he said, although some think it isn't and believe a nonprofit should always be neutral.

He said during the Reagan presidency it was established that charities can and should be heard and one of the ways to be heard is to help shape public policy.

“Charity is not sufficient, you have to influence,” said Feldstein, “to do more to create the state we all want.” That means influence in both public and private sectors.

Among the programs established during Feldstein's 24 years at the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation: the Trust for New Hampshire Lands, to protect more than 100,000 acres outside the White Mountain National Forest from development; New Futures, a statewide organization to work for passage of legislation to reduce underage drinking and to fund adolescent alcohol and drug treatment programs; and the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies, a non-partisan public policy think tank to research and provide reports on critical issues for use by the Legislature.