Joe Robert Leonard

Former State Capitol press aide and community newspaper editor, Joe Robert Leonard, a Placer County resident since 1970, died June 19, 2019. At his request there will be no memorial service. During two decades in Sacramento, he was an advisor to high-ranking Democratic officeholders, including three State Assembly Speakers, the Lieutenant Governor, and the Senate Majority Leader and Caucus Chair. The native Californian was born in Brawley, Imperial County, on September 19, 1938, and raised in the southeast Los Angeles communities of Maywood and Bell. He graduated from Bell High School in 1956, after serving as student body president and newspaper editor. He received a partial scholarship to the University of Southern California, but after a semester switched to East Los Angeles College, where he won writing awards and was elected student newspaper editor. In 1957, he married his high school sweetheart, Peggy Millsap, and soon became one of the country's youngest newspaper editors, producing weekly circulated newspapers in Pico Rivera, Santa Fe Springs, and West Whittier for 11 years. Leonard also was a freelance writer of fiction and humor articles. A My Three Sons script he authored was broadcast on network television in 1965. The Ophir resident played a role in 100 political campaigns from 1970-1993 and was Communications Director for the 1983 California Democratic Party Convention. He penned a lighthearted political column for the fledging Sacramento magazine, contributing also to national and regional periodicals, including Sierra Heritage, as well as local and metropolitan newspapers. The Leonards celebrated their silver anniversary by spending August 1982 on the French Polynesia island of Bora Bora. They returned to the South Pacific in 1986 and 1990, the last trip extending to New Zealand and Australia, plus out-of-way Norfolk Island. Their golden anniversary was spent on Vancouver Island, Canada. Leonard had heart bypass surgery in 1987 and 2000. In 1991, he retired from the Legislature's staff. He served on the 1991-1992 Placer County Grand Jury and was a federal grand juror in 2006-2007. He enjoyed walks, reading, and toiling on his rural land. The Leonards were CIMBL founding members and participated in 150 trash pickups in the Placer County area. In addition to his wife Peggy, son Kevin, and grandchildren Michaela and Nicholas of Auburn, Leonard leaves behind a sister, Alma Floy Diaz, of Atascadero, and three nieces. He was predeceased by firstborn son Phillip, who he will join in the Ophir Community Cemetery.