R.I.P. TOMMY LEONARD (1933 – 2019)

The great Tommy Leonard passed quietly from our midst six years ago today (17 Jan. 2019) at JML Care Center in Falmouth, Massachusetts at age 85. The beloved founder of the Falmouth Road Race and long-time bartender at Boston’s legendary Eliot Lounge, Tommy was the patron saint of running to thousands of people around the globe. 

Tommy’s dear friend Russ Pelletier sent the following the day of his passing.

“Just want to let you know that he never lost his sense of humor. I was with him yesterday afternoon. It was obvious that he was at the end of the line.

Around the bed were three women on the JML staff and myself. He was having difficulty breathing and couldn’t speak. But we knew he could hear us.

So I told him, “Tommy, no matter what the situation, you always have young ladies taking care of you”.

I couldn’t hear his reply, but the nurse closest to him did. I asked, “What did he say?”.  She looked at me and said, “I have the best seat in the house”.

He went out on his own terms.”

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Those who knew and loved him dearly did so not just for a shared love of running, but for his endless acts of selflessness and generosity of spirit. Even those who had never met him felt like they knew him from the stories they’d heard. Such was the effect Tommy had on people, a best friend you might not have ever met.

TL’s contributions were incalculable, and not just to the running community. He and fellow Back Bay barkeep at the Bull & Finch Pub (the Cheers bar on TV) Eddie Doyle raised funds for causes far and wide through the years from their posts behind the hardwood. 

And though TL grew up in an orphanage and foster homes in western Massachusetts, he created a worldwide family with his Irish twinkle, zest for life, and an embracing you-centered concern. He was like a human endearment machine that functioned perfectly to the very end of his days.

True, he was more of a dreamer than a hands-on producer. But TL was a wizard at bringing the right people together while creating an atmosphere where good times were to be had by all. Today, we recall his passing from a world where such character and grace notes seem increasingly anachronistic.

It was with full hearts we sent TL off on his next grand adventure in 2019. Off beyond “the powder-puff clouds and shimmering Vineyard Sound” to make the saints laugh, God give praise, and make more angels that can fit on the head of a pin happy.

Bless you, Tommy Leonard, your light and spirit will continue to shine through to show us the way.

“With Tommy Leonard tending taps, 

The guru in his lair, 

Every runner’s true best friend, 

With a heart big enough to share.”

END