Leonard Florence

LEONARD FLORENCE

Leonard Florence was the son of poor Russian-Jewish immigrants. One of eight children of Myer and Fannie Florence. Leonards first job was shining shoes at the Soldier's Home in Chelsea to help out his family. Years later, the Jewish chapel at the Soldiers Home would be named for his parents and he would become a member of the home's board of trustees. A resident of Bloomingdale Street in Chelsea, he attended the Chelsea schools and graduated from Chelsea High School in 1950.

Leonard attended Boston University School of Business Adminstration under a Dewey Stone scholarship. Dewey Stone, who gave the BU scholarship was a Brockton industrialist and philanthropist who saw Leonard's potential and, in 1956, put up the money for him to buy the small and struggling Raimond Silver Company of Malden. In 1963, Leonard founded the Leonard Silver Manufacturing Co. Inc. A millionaire at 30, he helped pioneer the mass-production of silver picture frames before becoming the head of the Towle Manufacturing Company, a 300 year-old silverware maker. In 1985 he left Towle and a year later founded the Syratech Corporation in East boston. Syratech was a giftware and seasonal products company that markets, imports and sells flatware and other sterling silver items. After buying his old company, Towle, and faberware, he built Syratech into a $300 million company. In 1996 Leonard sold Syratech to the Thomas H. Lee Company. With the money received from the sale, he began to accelerate his philanthropic efforts. In the 1960s, a chance meeting in Cambridge with a Catholic priest, the Reverend Lawrence Cronin, Leonard was told about the work of the St. Coletta and Cardinal Cushing Schools in Hanover. He was impressed by the care given to special needs children. He soon became good friends with Cardinal Cushing and was appointed the first lay person to the schools' board. In 1999 Leonard and Cardinal Bernard Law travelled to Israel to dedicate the Leonard and Charlote Florence Center for Special Education in Haifa. Earlier Leonard had paid for teachers from the Haifa center to learn at the Cardinal Cushing center which was the model for the Haifa school. In 1993 Pope John Paul II bestowed on him the Order of St. Gregory The Great, the highest honor a layman can achieve in the Catholic Church, recognizing individuals who distinguish themselves for notable accomplishments on behalf of society, regardless of their religious beliefs. In 2000 the pope elevated him to a commander of the Knights St. Gregory.

Leonard Florence died of a brain tumor on June 26, 2006 at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts at the age of 74.

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LEONARD FLORENCE
		Leonard Florence was the son of poor Russian-Jewish immigrants. One of eight children of Myer and Fannie Florence. Leonards first job was shining shoes at the Soldier's Home in Chelsea to help out his family. Years later, the Jewish chapel at the Soldiers Home would be named for his parents and he would become a member of the home's board of trustees. A resident of Bloomingdale Street in Chelsea, he attended the Chelsea schools and graduated from Chelsea High School in 1950.

Leonard attended Boston University School of Business Adminstration under a Dewey Stone scholarship. Dewey Stone, who gave the BU scholarship was a Brockton industrialist and philanthropist who saw Leonard's potential and, in 1956, put up the money for him to buy the small and struggling Raimond Silver Company of Malden. In 1963, Leonard founded the Leonard Silver Manufacturing Co. Inc. A millionaire at 30, he helped pioneer the mass-production of silver picture frames before becoming the head of the Towle Manufacturing Company, a 300 year-old silverware maker. In 1985 he left Towle and a year later founded the Syratech Corporation in East boston. Syratech was a giftware and seasonal products company that markets, imports and sells flatware and other sterling silver items. After buying his old company, Towle, and faberware, he built Syratech into a $300 million company. In 1996 Leonard sold Syratech to the Thomas H. Lee Company. With the money received from the sale, he began to accelerate his philanthropic efforts. In the 1960s, a chance meeting in Cambridge with a Catholic priest, the Reverend Lawrence Cronin, Leonard was told about the work of the St. Coletta and Cardinal Cushing Schools in Hanover. He was impressed by the care given to special needs children. He soon became good friends with Cardinal Cushing and was appointed the first lay person to the schools' board. In 1999 Leonard and Cardinal Bernard Law travelled to Israel to dedicate the Leonard and Charlote Florence Center for Special Education in Haifa. Earlier Leonard had paid for teachers from the Haifa center to learn at the Cardinal Cushing center which was the model for the Haifa school. In 1993 Pope John Paul II bestowed on him the Order of St. Gregory The Great, the highest honor a layman can achieve in the Catholic Church, recognizing individuals who distinguish themselves for notable accomplishments on behalf of society, regardless of their religious beliefs. In 2000 the pope elevated him to a commander of the Knights St. Gregory. Leonard Florence died of a brain tumor on June 26, 2006 at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts at the age of 74.


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