Leland Bradley Stanford

Capt. Leland Bradley Stanford, U.S. Naval Reserve, Ret., of Arlington, Va., died Nov. 30, 2022. He was 88. Capt. Stanford was born in Little Rock, Ark., in 1934, was reared in Arkadelphia and Pine Bluff, then moved with his parents to Memphis, Tenn., after World War II.

A Founder’s Scholar at Vanderbilt University, he was commissioned an ensign upon graduation in 1956, and served ashore and at sea before transferring to the inactive reserve and entering graduate school at Northwestern University. With his subsequent master’s degree in chemistry, he embarked on a 20-year career at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati (affording a Master of Business Administration at Xavier University), Archer-Daniels-Midland in Minneapolis, and Ashland Oil in Ashland, Ky.

Having maintained continuous service in Research Reserve and Surface Reserve units during this period, then-Commander Stanford was honored when the reserve unit he was commanding won the James Forrestal Trophy as the best large surface division in the nation in the Fiscal Year 1972 unit competition. In 1981, then-Capt. Stanford left Ashland Oil and rejoined the Navy on active duty as Operations Officer (J3) of Joint Services Operation Ocean Venture 1982, for which he was awarded the Joint Services Commendation Medal. Following nine months with Joint Training Command in Little Creek, Va., he was transferred to a staff position with the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in Washington, DC. There he served until 1986, when he completed 30 years of honorable service and transferred to the Retired Reserve. Following that, he won a civilian position as a business and financial officer at ONR, from which he retired, in 2014, with 35 years of total federal service.

A singer since childhood, Capt. Stanford sang with Washington’s Cathedral Choral Society for more than 30 years, serving at times as Bass I Section Coordinator and for four years as elected singer representative on its Board of Trustees.

Capt. Stanford was married in 1962 to Patricia Diane Lacock, who lives in Waverly, Ohio. That marriage ended in divorce after 20 years, and Capt. Stanford married Emmie Elizabeth Ewing of Nashville in 1983. This marriage ended when Elizabeth died in 2014.

Capt. Stanford is survived by his wife, Susan Pruett Stanford, who joined him in matrimony in 2016, following a courtship resulting from a chance encounter due to mixed seating at a Cathedral Choral Society rehearsal. Other survivors include children Leland Thomas Stanford (Stephanie) of Dallas, Frederick Grant Stanford of Sterling, Va., and Pamela Jean Stanford Jeffrey (Todd) of Huntersville, NC; grandchildren Leland Daniel Stanford (Marlenea), Devyn Leigh Stanford, Frederic Lane Stanford (Meghan), Kyle Patrick Jeffrey, Adam Scott Jeffrey, Eli Curtis Jeffrey; great-grandson Benjamin Parish Hankins; and many cousins in Oklahoma, Arkansas and California.

Capt. Stanford was preceded in death by his father, Leland F. Stanford, in 1984 at age 77, and his mother, Elizabeth Grant Stanford, in 2006 at age 94. Capt. Stanford will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery at a future date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Clarendon United Methodist Church, 606 N. Irving St., Arlington, VA, 22201.