C. Leonard Gordon, a corporate lawyer turned medical entrepreneur who with his wife spent weekends and summers in East Hampton for almost 60 years, died in Miami on Feb. 9. He was 95.
After graduating first in his class from New York University Law School in 1955, Mr. Gordon joined the Cravath, Swaine & Moore law firm before becoming a partner in Marshall, Bratter, Greene, Allison & Tucker in 1961.
Three years later he transitioned into the corporate world, joining a client, the Baldwin-Montrose Chemical Company, as general counsel, vice president, and member of the board. He returned to private practice in 1970, and founded the law firm Gordon, Hurwitz, Butowsky, Baker, Weitzen, Shalov & Wein in 1974.
Mr. Gordon decided to leave the law and reinvent himself in the 1980s, becoming a venture capitalist and the owner of start-up medical technology companies. “Leonard was a venture capitalist in the truest sense,” said Alan Patricof, also a venture capitalist and East Hampton resident. Rather than set up funds he would invest his own money in his companies. “He was a noble investor,” Mr. Patricof said. “He put his whole heart and soul into it.”
His investments included YAG lasers for minimally invasive surgery, cancer diagnostics, biopharmaceutical cancer therapeutics, and alpha radiation technology targeting cancerous tumors. His final company was Althera Medical, now Alpha Tau Medical.
Mr. Gordon was born in Boston on July 30, 1929, to Maurice Gordon and the former Deborah Canefsky. He grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and won a scholarship to a boarding school, Western Reserve Academy, where he wrestled and once ran a mile in 4:56.
From there he went to Harvard, graduating with a degree in American history in 1951. After two years at Harvard Law School he was drafted into the Army. Although he requested an overseas posting, he was stationed in Brooklyn, which enabled him to complete his law degree at N.Y.U.
Mr. Gordon married Claire Ochs in 1955, and they had two children, Bruce and Julie. The marriage ended in divorce. In 1963, he married Margot Brady Schiff and became a parent to her two children, David and Elizabeth. Ms. Schiff survives.
The couple bought a house in East Hampton in 1963. Over the next six decades, Mr. Gordon’s involvement in the community included serving on the board of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons for 40 years, with stints as president and chairman.
The Gordons were friends with Evan Frankel, a Manhattan builder who after World War II became one of the largest landowners in East Hampton. Like Mr. Frankel, Mr. Gordon became interested in preserving East Hampton’s open space from development.
The Gordons purchased 47 acres across from Fresh Pond in Amagansett from Mr. Frankel and donated more than half of the land to the Nature Conservancy, according to Mr. Gordon’s son David, who also mentioned “the joy, wit, and fun my father brought to everything he did.”
The Gordons also sold 16 acres to the South Fork Country Club at a steep discount so it could expand from nine holes to 18. They were members of the club, and founding members of the East Hampton Tennis Club. Mr. Gordon was devoted to exercise throughout his life, running, biking, rollerblading, and swimming.
In the late 1980s, Mr. Gordon and Mr. Frankel oversaw the establishment of the nine-acre Shaarey Pardes Accabonac Grove Cemetery in Springs for members of the Jewish Center. Designed by Norman Jaffe, the project benefited the congregants, preserved open space, and raised money.
In addition to his wife and son David Schiff, he is survived by two other children, Bruce Gordon and Elizabeth Schiff, as well as nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild. A daughter, Julie Gordon, died before him.
A memorial service will be held in New York City in the fall.
