NEW YORK - William Lesse Castleberry, 78, died Wednesday, May 29, 2024, in Pennsylvania with complications from lymphoma. Lesse was born at St. Bernard's Hospital in Jonesboro. He spent the first years of his life in Manila and Salem before the family moved to Jonesboro.

After graduating from Jonesboro High School and the University of Arkansas Fayetteville, he earned a law degree, Cum Laude, from Harvard Law School, in 1969. He later earned a master's in tax from New York University.

Lesse was a devoted son to Rex and Crata Walker Castleberry and brother to Letty McAdams, all who predeceased him.

He wrote weekly letters home and later made weekly calls to his sisters. He cherished his Arkansas roots, especially his years growing up in Salem.

His survivors include his wife, Mee of New York; two children whom he adored, William Rex of Colorado and Elizabeth Fay of New York City, and sister, Crata L. Castleberry of Little Rock.

After law school, Lesse lived and worked in New York and grew to love his adopted city. He was practicing as senior counsel with Cooley LLP when he died.

Later in life, Lesse became an avid long-distance biker. Memorials may be sent to www.bike.nyc at 9 E. 45th St., 7th Floor, New York, NY 10017.

Arrangements were made by Hessling Murray Funeral Home, 428 Main St., Honesdale, Pa.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Jonesboro Sun on Jun. 18, 2024.

Memories and Condolences
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4 Entries

Brian Gallagher

June 21, 2024

I was proud and pleased to have Lesse as my law partner and good friend.
He is the only person I could (without a scintilla of irony) call a gentleman and a scholar.
My condolences to his family.

Jim Broadway

June 19, 2024

Lesse and I formed a 2-person motorcycle gang in high school, and we roved the gravel pits around Jonesboro accumulating cuts and bruises, due to our lack of skill at hill climbing. He was a joy to be with in those years. Our divergent paths converged briefly in New York, when I attended a New York Bar Association meeting, the high point for me being lunch with Lesse at the Harvard Club. I´m not sure if the uniformed waiters knew what to make of a couple of Arkies recounting stories about riding gravel roads at night to go frog gigging, but we had a good time. My condolences to his family.

Ralph Seay

June 18, 2024

I am so sorry to hear of Lesse's passing. I had the pleasure of meeting Lesse when we were both high school juniors. We were selected to serve as Congressional Pages to the Honorable E.C. Gathings, U.S. Congress, for a month in 1963. Though I lost contact with Lesse over the years, I remember him as an intelligent, kind, and fun kind of guy. We Arkansas boys thoroughly enjoyed our month in Washington, D.C. I wish I could have known Lesse better over the years.

Bonnie Willett-Goad

June 18, 2024

My heartfelt sympathy to you and yours.
My first memory of Lesse, I think I recall often seeing him walking his Great Dane in the Connunity Center Park.
Bonnie Willett-Goad
JHS Class of 1963

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