In Memoriam: Harold Gordon Leggett Jr., Trustee Emeritus Leggett served on the Washington and Lee University Board of Trustees from 1973 to 1984.

Office of Communications and Public Affairs
April 8, 2026

Harold Gordon Leggett Jr., trustee emeritus of Washington and Lee University, died on March 30, 2026, in Lynchburg, Virginia. He was 94.

Leggett was born on March 28, 1932, as the eldest child of Harold Gordon Leggett and Ruth Ellis Leggett. They raised their family in Lynchburg, Virginia, where Leggett enjoyed climbing the mulberry trees in the front yard and taking escapades in his pony-drawn cart. He attended Lynchburg public schools before enrolling in Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia. There he played football and ran track; participated in student government, Missionary Society and choir; and was involved in the school’s yearbook.

He entered W&L in 1950, where he played freshman football and freshman lacrosse. He joined Beta Theta Pi and the varsity lacrosse team. He majored in economics while also exploring the arts as a member of Shenandoah literary magazine.

While at W&L, he met Patricia “Pat” Reid Webb, who attended Randolph-Macon Woman’s College (now Randolph College). Upon his graduation from W&L in 1954, the couple married. Leggett joined the U.S. Navy Reserves as an officer in coastal minesweeping. He served for two years.

After being discharged from active duty, the family moved back to Lynchburg, where Leggett entered the family business as a management trainee at Leggett Department Store, Inc., which his father established in 1927. Leggett worked in several roles before being named executive vice president of the human resources division in 1977 for the family’s department store chain. He continued in this role for three decades, becoming a member of board of directors for the Leggett Stores and Belk Stores Services, Inc. When Belk Stores Services acquired 37 Leggett department stores in 1996, Leggett established Leggett Associates LLC, a consulting business that assisted small- to medium-sized organizations.

Leggett gave back to both his alma maters, serving on the boards of trustees of Episcopal High School and Washington and Lee. He joined the W&L Board of Trustees in 1973 and served until 1984. He was also a Reunion Class Committee member for his 60-year reunion, chair of the George Washington Society from 2008 to 2010 and volunteered as a SPEAKER caller and alumni career mentor. His wife joined the W&L Board of Trustees in 1987 and was a member until 1996. Together, they served on the Area Campaign Committee from 1992 to 1995 for the On the Shoulders of Giants capital campaign — with Leggett as vice chair. He donated to many areas of the university including the W&L Fund, The George Washington Society – Washington Hall Lobby Endowment Fund, the Colonnade Restoration and Renovation, Friends of the Library, Lenfest Faculty Endowment and more.

Leggett also invested much time in his local community, serving as the director of the Lynchburg Chamber of Commerce, founding director of Centra Foundation and member of the boards of Crestar Bank, YMCA of Central Virginia and the Lynchburg General-Marshall Lodge Hospitals. He also served on the vestry of the St. John’s Episcopal Church, and he contributed his time to Habitat for Humanity and the Boonsboro Volunteer Rescue Squad. He was also a trustee of the Miller Home for Girls, where every year he and his children would dress up and bring Pat’s cookies and gifts to the girls in the home. And on a national level, he was director of the National Retail Merchant Association.

Pat preceded Leggett in death in 2002. Leggett married Madeline E. Miller, also a Randolph-Macon graduate, in 2003, relocating to Philadelphia and becoming an avid Eagles fan. When Madeline died in 2022, Leggett returned to his hometown.

Leggett is survived by his children, Reid Leggett (Anne Leggett), Susan Leggett Reitz (David Reitz), Jane Leggett and Carey Leggett Wilks (Reiss Wilks ’90); grandchildren Carter (Meghan), Sarah (Alexander), Andrew (Blake), Alexander, Patricia and Tyler; and many great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his stepdaughter, Madeline Eliot Miller (Nathaniel Drake) and their two daughters, Vera and Freya.

A celebration of life will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 9, 2026, at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Leggett’s full obituary was published by The News-Gazette.