Joseph P. Leech

Joseph P. Leech, 72, president of Leech Tool & Die Works, Meadville, died at City Hospital Thursday, May 4, 1961, after an illness of four days.

He was born in Manchester, England, May 18, 1888, and came to the US in 1911.

A tool and diemaker, he was employed in the New England States by such companies as General Electric and United Shoe and was superintendent  of Automatic Transportation Co. at Buffalo before coming to Meadville in 1936.

During World War II, he had been employed by the US government to set up plants for making shells, both in the US and Canada.  He held patents on several tools of his design.

In Meadville, he was employed by Talon, Inc., retiring in 1952 at the age of 64.

In 1948, he and his sons, Daniel J., Robert N. and Thomas E. Leech, founded Leech Tool & Die on State Hill Road.

The company acquired Crawford Manufacturing Co. in 1959 and just recently established a new fabricating division in a building on South Main Street.

The elder Mr. Leech had taken an active part in Leech enterprises.

He married Blanche Ethel Daniels at Bradford on September 12, 1916.  He was a member of Harmony Masonic Lodge 699 of Buffalo.

In addition to his widow and three sons, all of Meadville area, he is survived by a sister, Mrs. Annie Joy of Manchester, England and ten grandchildren.

Services were held at Waid Funeral Home.

Interment was in Greendale Cemetery.