Samuel Richard Leatherman III

Samuel Richard Leatherman III

Memphis, TN

Samuel Richard Leatherman III, born on August 16th, 1926, died peacefully on February 23, 2016. Richard was the son of Samuel Richard Leatherman II and Irene McNeal Morrow Leatherman and is survived by his younger siblings Robertson Morrow Leatherman and Irene Leatherman Orgill. He was preceded in death by his sister, Kate Leatherman Orr and his son, Samuel Richard "Dick" Leatherman IV. Richard grew up near Robinsonville, MS on the family plantation Abbay & Leatherman, and graduated high school from St. Paul's School in Concord, NH. He attended Millsaps College in Jackson, MS before enrolling in the Navy and later graduated from the University of Virginia.

Richard began his career at First Tennessee Bank, where he later served as a Director of the Board, before serving as President of the family's Memphis Furniture Manufacturing Company. Throughout his life, Richard was a prominent cotton farmer in the northern Mississippi Delta.

As a devoted historian, he loved genealogy and was eager to share his knowledge of the past with his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. He was an avid outdoorsman and enjoyed spending time in the woods chasing turkeys and locating coveys of quail with his National Grand Champion bird dog Miss One Dot (Ames Plantation 1979).

Playing golf was also a passion of Richard's throughout his life as he traveled across the world with many of his dearest friends in the US Senior Golf Association. Richard was a member of the Memphis Country Club, Memphis Hunt and Polo Club, The Belvedere Club in Charlevoix, The Everglades Club of Palm Beach, and St. John's Episcopal Church.

Richard was married to Mary Carroll Seabrook Leatherman of Memphis and Tunica, MS (deceased) for sixty-one years and leaves his current loving wife and companion Sandy Leatherman, his children Irene Leatherman Brownlow, Mary Leatherman Carr, grandchildren Thomas James Tyne Brownlow, Abbay Brownlow Curtis, Camilla Carr Brinner, Oscar Clark Carr IV, Carroll Leatherman Brett, Elle Leatherman Stroup, and great grand children Matthew Richard Brinner, Walker Seabrook Curtis, William Irwin Brett, and David Isaac Stroup.

A graveside funeral service will be 1 p.m., Friday, February 26 at Elmwood Cemetery, followed by a reception for friends and family in the Parish Hall at St. John's Episcopal Church at 2 p.m. Richard requested that all gifts and memorials be sent to Elmwood Cemetery in honor of his family.