Hamish A. Leach

PROFESSOR SIR HAMISH A LEACH, PH.D. Dr. Leach passed away suddenly on Monday April 16, 2007 at Spring Branch Medical Center. He was 75 years old. He was a retired professor of History and International Law from the University of Detroit. He also was the Pro-Chancellor of Adam Smith University and associated with UNESCO in New York. He was preceded in death by his father James Dawson Leach and mother Dame Violet Olive Webb Leach. He is survived by his only brother Neville Gary Leach, M.D., a retired surgeon. He subsequently was at the Academy of International Law at the Hague in Holland associated with the world court. He had a distinguished career and was widely honored holding nine honorary doctoral degrees. Recently to keep his mind busy he studied at John Hopkins University and received a Diploma in the Business of Medicine with a 4.0 grade point average. He also had a Doctorate in Business Administration and a Doctorate in Medical Administration. He held the Queens Commission and had served in the Canadian Guards Association as well as Honorary Colonel of the 78th Frazer Highlanders. He had seen service in the famous Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment. He had named an Aide-de-Camp to Princess Marina of Kent, widow of the senior Duke of Kent. Queen Elizabeth honored him in Scotland with the bestowal of heraldic coat-of-arms through the Lord Lyon, King of Arms, and declared him enrolled in the Nobility of Scotland. His father before him had served Prince Arthur Duke of Connaught and Strathearn in World War One on his staff. His great grandfather Lieutenant William Leach had been an officer in the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (now the Blues and Royals), to which Prince William and Prince Harry are attached. He had been at the Battle of Vitoria with the Duke Wellington, succeeding driving out Napoleonic forces from Spain in the Iberian Campaign. Professor Leach was a founding trustee of the Ontario Federation of Symphony Orchestras, and subsequently elected president as well as President of the Windsor Symphony Society and the International Youth Symphony Orchestra, working with Mrs. Rose Kennedy and Madam Vanier wife of the Canadian Governor General. Sir Hamish had been awarded twenty-two medals including the Cross of Valor with Gold Swords by the Republic of Poland, the Venerable Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre, with the rank of Knight Grand Cross by the Vatican. The order of Constantine St. George of Italy. The Russian Orthodox Order of St. John with the mark of Knight Commander given by H.H. Patriarch Alexey II of Moscow and all the Russias. He will be deeply missed by his brother Dr. Gary Leach, as they were very close as well as his family of friends and physicians at Spring Branch Medical Center. With his brother he shared a membership at the Harvard Club of New York, which he enjoyed for the intellectual activity. A visitation was held on April 18, 2007 from 6 to 8 P.M., with a Rosary recited at 7 P.M. at Earthman Hunters Creek, 8303 Katy Freeway, Houston, TX 77024. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Thursday April 19, 2007, 1 P.M. at St. Jerome's Catholic Church, 8825 Kempwood, Houston, TX. Entombment will follow at Forest Park Westheimer, 12800 Westheimer, Houston, TX.