William Jeffrey Leland

Jeff was born on July 10, 1943 in Columbus, Ohio to the late William Leland and Virginia “Ginny” Drake-Leland.

From an early age, Jeff loved fishing, cars, and sports: especially baseball, basketball, football, and his beloved Buckeyes. While working as a teenager, he met THE love of his life, Mary Ellen. They knew they were meant for each other and dated for 4 years before marrying in 1963. Jeff worked a few jobs before landing at Ohio Bell. He started on the “line-gang” erecting phone poles and lines, and worked his way up the organization to the point of designing and building phone systems for hospitals, hotels, and multi-location businesses. He had White House Clearance and was responsible for making the switchboard each time the President came to Ohio. The teams he worked on at Bell Labs developed: music on hold, e-mail, and automated voice technology, amongst other innovations. He was the leader of 15,000 employees at the time of his retirement.

Jeff was entirely devoted to his family. He was a husband first, father second, church member third, community member fourth, and brilliant AT&T employee last. He coached his kids in baseball and basketball, and introduced professional developmental teams in Forest Park Athletic Association (some of these kids went on to MLB).

Jeff made sure to enrich his family by traveling. He took his kids to over 40 states and hundreds of national parks. He also took his family on missionary trips. Over the course of more than 30 years, he went on 75 mission trips helping build churches, schools and housing. He loved serving and helping others, often in the background not drawing any attention to himself.

In addition to his parents, Jeff is preceded in death by his wife, Mary Ellen Leland.

Jeff is survived by his children, Jeffrey Brian (Fran) Leland: children Mackenzie Mary Ellen and Evan Davis; Adrienne Michele Christensen: children Ashley Michele (Zak) child Jozie Salem, Alexander Michael and Emma Elizabeth; William Keith (Tanya) Leland: children Mary Jane and Bren Parker; and Samuel Steven (Miriam) Leland.

A visitation will be held Friday, August 9, 2024 from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM at Advantage by Schoedinger North, 5554 Karl Road, Columbus, OH 43229, followed by a memorial service at 4:00pm with Pastor Garren officiating.