Ralph W. Leatherby, O.C. Philanthropist, Businessman
A memorial service will be Saturday for Ralph W. Leatherby, an Orange County businessman and patriarch of a philanthropic family.
Leatherby, 75, died Monday at his Rancho Mirage home after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease and cancer.
“The Leatherbys were and are a truly generous and giving family,” said Cathi Douglas, a spokeswoman for Chapman University where Ralph Leatherby was a trustee.
A few years ago, Douglas said, the family donated $3 million to create the university’s Ralph W. Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics. More recently, she said, they gave the lead gift to establish a new campus library, now under construction.
“The family has always stood out as really genuinely committed people,” Douglas said. “It’s been an inspiration working with them and an honor to know them.”
Ralph Leatherby, who grew up on a farm in Iowa, fought in World War II before going on to establish the Orange County-based Leatherby Insurance Co. Later he founded UniCare Insurance Co., at one time the largest insurance firm in the county.
Over the years, Leatherby and his family--wife Eleanor, son Russ and daughter Joann--contributed millions of dollars to charities and educational institutions, including the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, South Coast Repertory and KOCE-TV. The family also contributed a major portion of the funds for the construction of Lake Hills Community Church in Laguna Hills.
It is there, at 23331 Moulton Parkway, that the memorial service is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
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