Michael Gregory Leary

Greg was born in Boston, MA to the late Frances (Hoey) and Joseph Leary and was raised in Newton, MA. After graduating from Newton North High School, he attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he earned his bachelor’s degree. Prior to his retirement, Greg served as Vice President of Birch|REA, a real estate advisory services firm. He also spent more than eleven years in the financial services industry as a quality assurance engineer and business analyst with firms including PFPC, Brown Brothers Harriman, and The Shareholder Services Group.

Greg had a wide and abundant circle of friends throughout his life. He maintained lifelong friendships with classmates dating back to grade school in Newton, and with every phase of life he added new friends drawn in by his kind demeanor, his sense of humor, and his gift for putting people at ease. If you ever met Greg, you wanted to be his friend for life.

Greg loved entertaining people and was the proud host of dinner parties and gatherings throughout his adult life. He was a consummate and inventive cook, the possessor of every spice and kitchen gadget known to man.

Greg had a deep love of nature and was always looking for an opportunity to hike, climb mountains, and explore the outdoors. He had a sharp eye and could spot a hidden deer, hawk, or eagle before anyone else in his party. He was a devoted animal lover as well, raising his golden retriever Tucker and, more recently, his chocolate lab Brody, with great care and affection.

At UMass Amherst, Greg formed close friendships that he carried with him for the rest of his life, and he often said he would have happily stayed in Western Massachusetts. His father’s illness with multiple sclerosis brought him back closer to Boston instead. Family always mattered deeply to Greg, who was especially close to his mother, Fran, and to her two sisters, Enid and Carmel. All three had emigrated from Liverpool, England to the United States after World War II and settled in Newton. Greg was the only boy among five children, and though his sisters now live in far-flung places, he started a tradition of family Zoom calls during COVID that he kept going for the rest of his life.

Greg met Terence (Terry) Farmer on a basketball court in 1983, and the two were inseparable from that point forward. They lived apart in the early years of their relationship before moving in together in Milton in 1987, then to Newton in 1990, and finally to Sudbury in 2017. Greg was Terry’s proud husband for 42 years — the final 22 of them recognized officially under Massachusetts law, following the 2004 lifting of the prohibition on same-sex marriage.

Greg was the beloved husband of Terence (Terry) Farmer of Sudbury, and the loving brother of Patricia Read-Hunter and Neil Hunter of Terceira, Azores; Pamela and Saint Cameron of Seattle, WA; Susan Leary of New Richmond, WI; and Ellen and Sean O'Brien of Reading, MA. He is also survived by many loving nieces and nephews.

Greg was equally beloved by Terry's family, who loved him as their own brother: Miriam Byrne of Westboro, MA; Kathy and Ken Kimball of Daniel Island, SC; Richard Farmer of Portsmouth, RI; and sister-in-law Karen Farmer of Hingham, MA, widow of Terry's late brother Neil. He was predeceased by Terry's siblings Dorothy Erwin and Neil Farmer, as well as Dorothy's husband Jim Erwin, Miriam's husband Jim Byrne, and Richard's late wife Bonnie Farmer.

Plans are underway for a Celebration of Life, to be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations in Greg’s memory may be made to:

Partners In Health, Suite 300, 800 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02199

World Central Kitchen, Attn: Donor Services Team, PO Box 96538, Washington, DC 20090-6538

Emerson Hospital, 133 Old Road to Nine Acre Corner, Concord, MA 01742