Warren Leach Jr.

Warren B. Leach, Jr. passed away on Tuesday, the 3rd of January 2012, in Houston, Texas.
He was born on the 29th of July 1926, in Houston, Texas. Mr. Leach graduated from Lamar High School in 1944 and immediately entered the Marine Corps upon graduation, where he was sent to Paris Island, South Carolina. He was in a convoy entering Tokyo Harbor when the war ended.
Mr. Leach graduated from the University of Texas Law School in 1951. In August of the same year, he was licensed to practice law in Texas. In 1952, he married Mary Wilson in Rule, Texas.
After graduation from law school, Mr. Leach was recalled to active duty in the US Marine Corps (1952-53) where he practiced before a General Courts Martial as a JAG officer in San Diego, California. Upon returning to Houston, he served as an Assistant County Attorney for Harris County Texas (1954 - 56). In 1956, he became an attorney in the Houston Division Law Department of what is now Marathon Oil Company. In 1967 he became General Attorney for the company. He served in that capacity until his retirement in 1986. Upon retirement from Marathon, he became Of Counsel in the Energy Section of the law firm of Jackson and Walker L.L.P. where he remained until 1994. In 1994 he began a solo practice.
While with Marathon Oil Company, he was involved extensively in all phases of oil and gas law and in other areas of the law affecting the company engaged in oil and gas exploration, production, refining and pipeline transportation. He practiced extensively before agencies in Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico that have administrative jurisdiction over oil and gas activities. He also handled or supervised outside counsel handling of a considerable amount of civil litigation in which Marathon was involved. Similarly, during his Of Counsel service with Jackson & Walker and in solo practice, he has been engaged primarily in the practice of oil and gas law. He has served on a number of American Arbitration Assoc. panels, including serving as Chairman of numerous panels.
He was a member of the Houston Bar Association, the State Bar of Texas, the American Bar Association and in addition to being licensed to practice law in the Supreme Court of the State of Texas, he was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals, The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Mr. Leach was a member and pasts Chairman of the Legal Committee of the Texas-Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Assoc., a past member of the Legal Committee of the Interstate oil Compact Commission, and a member and past President of the Rotary Club of the University Area in Houston, Texas. He was a member of Chapelwood United Methodist Church.
He is survived by his wife, Mary W. Leach; children, Betty Hawkins and her husband, Dan, Barbara Lamiero and her husband, Paul, Bruce Leach, Brenda Wood and her husband, Don; grandchildren, Christen and Andrew Leach, Andi, Frances, and Brendan Lamiero; sister, Jane Marie Smeck and her husband, Jack; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Mr. Leach's family wishes to extend their special thanks to his secretary, Kim Monson, and his caretakers, Mikki and Gloria.
Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from five o 'clock in the afternoon until seven o'clock in the evening on Thursday, the 5th of January, in the Drawing Room of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.
The funeral service is to be conducted at ten o'clock in the morning on Friday, the 6th of January, in the Sanctuary of Chapelwood United Methodist Church, 11140 Greenbay Street in Houston. Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception in the adjacent Fellowship Hall.
At a later time, the family is to gather for a private interment service at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery in Houston.
In lieu of customary remembrances, memorial contributions in Mr. Leach's name may be directed to Chapelwood Foundation, 11140 Greenbay St., Houston, TX, 77024; or to Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 10283, Uniondale, NY, 11555-0283.