Lathrop (Lay) Leishman; Known as ‘Mr. Rose Bowl’

Lathrop K. (Lay) Leishman, a former president and grand marshal of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses who is credited with obtaining the Tournament House headquarters from the Wrigley family half a century ago, has died. He was 91.

Leishman, who was often called “Mr. Rose Bowl” or “Mr. Pasadena,” died Thursday in Pasadena.

He was president of the Tournament of Roses in 1939 and served as grand marshal of the New Year’s Day parade in 1979. He also served for many years on the organization’s Football Committee and the Rose Bowl Game Management Committee.

Last year, he became the first non-athlete member of the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame. He was also honored in 1975 by the National Football Foundation for his contributions to amateur football.

In 1965, the city of Pasadena acknowledged his myriad contributions to civic betterment when it gave him the Arthur Noble Award, presented annually to the Pasadena resident who has contributed most to the community.

When Leishman persuaded the Wrigley chewing gum family to donate the Orange Grove Boulevard mansion to the growing tournament, it was a major steppingstone to his presidency of the organization.

But he was also born to the role. His father, W.L. Leishman, served as tournament president in 1917 and was one of two co-founders of the Rose Bowl stadium.

When the first New Year’s Day game was played in the new Rose Bowl in 1923, it wasn’t all roses, Lay Leishman once recalled for The Times:

“Just about everybody who came by car arrived in a black Ford, and (was) directed to parking areas that were unpaved and unlit. . . . (Later) they were going around trying to find black Fords in pitch-darkness. . . . There were no toilets. Trenches had been built outside and tents put over them.

“The team that was to play USC was Penn State. The trouble was, they got delayed in traffic, and the game was nearly an hour late in starting.”

Appropriately, one of Leishman’s favorite hobbies was growing roses.

Born on Terminal Island, he moved with his family to Pasadena as an infant. He was educated at Oregon State University.

Leishman operated the Crown City Lumber and Mill Co., founded by his father, until it was sold to Ambassador College in the 1960s. Afterward, he and his sons created the Leishman Management Co., dealing in real estate.

Leishman served as president of the Pasadena Junior Chamber of Commerce, the Pasadena Rotary Club and the Southern California Retail Lumber Dealers Assn. He was a director of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, a trustee of the Pasadena Presbyterian Church and on the board of the local Salvation Army.

He was also a member of Al Malaikai Shrine Temple and was a 32nd-degree Mason who held York and Scottish Rite degrees. Between 1935 and 1945, he was director of the Children’s Home Society of California.

In 1969, Leishman was a co-founder of Pasadena Now, which worked for redevelopment of the city by attracting new businesses.

Among his many awards were The Times’ National Sports Award, the Big Ten Conference Participation Award and the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. special award for community and collegiate service.

He is survived by his wife, Marie; two sons, William and Robert; a daughter, Linda Palmer; five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.