Uncle Leo

In interviews late in his career, Mr. Lesser spoke about how “Seinfeld” had changed his life, making him a celebrity of the sort he’d never imagined. People would recognize him on the street not by name but as the man who bored Jerry with his tales of Jeffrey’s park triumphs or who once retrieved a watch Jerry had discarded and then tried to sell it back to him. 

“Uncle Leo became a whole new thing for me,” Mr. Lesser told the Canadian newspaper The National Post in 2010. “After sweating out every job, my God. Now it’s everywhere I go. I was at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, watching people put notes in the wall, it’s an esoteric day, very silent, very nice. All of a sudden: ‘Uncle Leo, where’s the watch?’ ”