Suzanne Lesher Huck

Suzanne Lesher Huck was a woman who gracefully blended traditional values with the rapid pace of growth and change that characterized her lifetime in Arizona. She was born April 29, 1924, in Tucson, when the State’s population was less than 400,000. Her father, Charles Zaner “Zip” Lesher, carried wounds from his Marine Corps service in some of the bloodiest battles of World War I. Sue and her college classmates lost boyfriends and husbands in World War II, in which Sue’s brother, Bob Lesher, and her husband, Leonard Huck, both served. Until her death at age 101, Sue was puzzled—and often disappointed—that some younger Americans seemed more critical than proud of their country.

Sue was just five years old when the stock market crashed in 1929. Her family’s Tucson home stood two blocks from the University of Arizona, where her father served as Registrar, Dean of Admissions, and volunteer Tennis Coach—in an era when one person could hold so many jobs. Her mother, Marguerite (Madge) Lesher was one of the first women to attend the University and later became one of its first female instructors. While the Great Depression could have cast a shadow on Sue’s childhood, it instead strengthened her, shaped by her family’s devotion to education and service.

A bright and popular student leader, Sue graduated with distinction from Tucson High School. At the University of Arizona she was awarded the Freeman Medal, one of the school’s highest honors, recognizing leadership and service. She was also president of Alpha Phi sorority, an affiliation she cherished and supported throughout her life.

As a teenager, Sue told a student newspaper she hoped to meet “someone like Superman.” She did—but initially he looked more like Clark Kent. In 1946, after three years of Navy service, Leonard Huck arrived at the Camelback Inn in Paradise Valley with little more than his desk clerk’s uniform. Sue, the Inn’s charming Social Director, was busy entertaining guests like the Shah of Iran and actor Jimmy Stewart but immediately caught Len’s eye. With their marriage on July 26, 1947, Sue Lesher and Len Huck began nearly seventy-seven years of love, devotion, and family.

In 1955, the Hucks built a home in Phoenix’s Arcadia neighborhood, where they raised three children: Leonard William Jr. (“Bill”), born in 1950; Robert Charles (“Bob”), born in 1951; and Wendy, born in 1955—by which time Arizona’s population had climbed past one million. Sue balanced civic leadership with family life, serving as President of the Junior League of Phoenix and President of the St. Luke’s Board of Visitors. Yet, she was convinced that her most important role was at home: cooking meals to anchor the family at breakfast and dinner, officiating at swim meets, applauding her kids at school events, and supporting family road trips that eventually touched all fifty states.

Sue and Len’s warmth, hospitality, and joy for life created a wide circle of friends. Among them were Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and her husband, John. Sue later recalled their first meeting with a laugh: “My aunt and uncle asked me if I would entertain the daughter of friends. I was busy with little kids and wasn’t thrilled at the idea. But, of course, I said I would be happy to—and that’s when I invited John and Sandra O’Connor to a small dinner party.” Soon afterward, Sue sponsored Sandra’s membership in the Junior League of Phoenix. The friendship endured for decades: Sue and Len were among the small group of guests President George W. Bush invited to Justice O’Connor’s farewell dinner at the White House.

Sue and Justice O’Connor were also part of a lively circle of eight to ten Phoenix women who dubbed themselves the “Mobile Party Unit.” As Evan Thomas recounts in his biography First: Sandra Day O’Connor, the MPU was a spirited social network of civic-minded women who brought energy, humor, and friendship to one another’s lives through tennis, bridge and world travel.

Although Sue and Len traveled the world with business and civic organizations, their greatest joy was time spent with family. Her happiest moments were holidays and summers surrounded by their three children, seven grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren in places like Coronado, California and their home at Forest Highlands in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Suzanne Lesher Huck passed away on September 20, 2025 when Arizona’s population had grown to more than 7.5 million. Through her daily reading of two newspapers and watching many news programs, she maintained a well-informed opinion about her century of fast-paced change. Throughout, Sue Huck remained a woman whose traditional dedication to country, community, family and friends embodied her generation’s reputation as “The Greatest.” She loved her country, the State of Arizona, and—most of all--her husband and family.

Arrangements for a celebration of Suzanne Huck’s life are pending. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that friends consider contributions to the Madge and Zip Lesher Endowed Scholarship at UofA’s Eller College of Management. Checks may be made to the University of Arizona Foundation with “in memory of Suzanne Lesher Huck” in the memo line and mailed to: University of Arizona Foundation, 1111 N Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721. In addition, donations may be made to the Alpha Phi Foundation alphaphifoundation.org/donate, or The Board of Visitors, boardofvisitors.org/memorial-donations.