Leonard E Borg Sr.

Leonard was born in Atlanta, Georgia on June 19, 1921, the son of August and Anna Borg; however, following his delivery, it was a girl that nurses brought to Anna’s hospital room. Even though the mix-up was soon resolved, Anna refused to have any more of her children delivered in hospitals.

As a fifth-grade student during the depression, Leonard delivered papers and magazines to 63 houses. People were so poor that they couldn’t afford to pay in advance for their subscriptions; delivery boys had to collect weekly from each customer. One Friday afternoon Leonard asked a customer to pay for the newspapers he had been receiving all week. “You’re going to be here tomorrow, aren’t you?” “Yes” Len acknowledged. “Well”, his customer promised, “I’ll pay you then”. When Leonard arrived the next day, the family had removed every stick of furniture and vacated to points unknown with left the bill unpaid.

Leonard sold magazines such as Liberty for a nickel and retained a penny. For each five magazines sold, he also received a green coupon. For every five “greenies”, he received one brown coupon. Brown coupons, called “brownie points”, could be exchanged for gifts from a catalogue intended to appeal to young boys. The gifts ranged from a pocketknife to a pony.

One day, the delivery boys were instructed to come downtown for an address by a very important man. The delivery boys would have preferred not to be bothered. Years later, Leonard was grateful for the pep talk about selling more newspapers and magazines. The speaker turned out to be the legendary newspaper owner, William Randolph Hearst.

According to reports in The Atlanta Journal, Leonard distinguished himself as the star running back of the "Firecrackers", a sandlot football team. Sandlot players were about 14 years of age. The six to eight sandlot teams in Atlanta played at Piedmont Park on Saturday mornings. The East Lake Firecrackers were coached by Johnny Roberts, who later progressed to coaching as an assistant at Georgia Tech. Leonard was named a citywide All-Star at right halfback. The all-star at left halfback was Clint Castleberry, who became the only player in Georgia Tech to be named an All-American while still a freshman.

Leonard attended the Fifth Avenue Elementary School in Decatur for 7 years and the Decatur Boys High School for 4 years.

During his summers as a fishing guide at Hill's Camp on Lake Burton, Leonard became introduced to the customs of the mountains. When Leonard found a tree overhanging the lake was laden with honey, he obtained permission from the landowner to saw down the tree and take the honey. If the tree could be sawn to fall into the water, Leonard reasoned that the honey could be extracted without the bees being able to bite. The plan worked fairly well, although not without some ornery bees taking exception. A half day's work by Leonard and two brothers produced a washtub full of honey. Before they could enjoy the fruits of their labor, an angry mountain man named Perry Shook trained a shotgun on them. "What are you doin' cuttin' down my bee tree?" he demanded. Leonard politely explained that he had permission from the landowner. Mr. Shook proclaimed that, according to the code of the mountains, the honey belonged to the first man to carve an "X" into the tree. Mr. Shook then pointed to his “X” on the tree. With both local precedent and a shotgun in his favor, Mr. Shook departed with a washtub full of honey.

In August, 1942, Leonard was called into military service. Following induction at Atlanta's Fort McPherson on November 2, 1942, he volunteered to be a paratrooper. He was immediately assigned to paratroopers’ basic training at Toccoa, Georgia. As one of the few men in his regiment to have participated in the Reserve Officer Training Corps during high school, Leonard made corporal in a week and sergeant in a month.

He was assigned to the Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment. At the completion of basic training, the 501st was combined with several other companies to form the 101st Airborne Division. The 101st, known as the “Screaming Eagles”, was later immortalized by books such as Stephen Ambrose’s Band of Brothers and films such as Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan.

Daily conditioning at Toccoa included going up and down Mount Curahee. Initially the recruits found it difficult to march up the mountain in full combat gear; furthermore, the mountain was so steep that their knees nearly struck their chins with each step. However, it wasn’t long before they were running up and down the mountain in full combat gear and even carrying rifles on occasion.

In February, 1943, Leonard completed paratroopers’ basic training and was posted to Fort Benning for paratroopers’ jump training. While at Fort Benning, based upon tests administered at Toccoa, Leonard was offered the opportunity of attending officer candidate school. Because he enjoyed the camaraderie of his unit so much, he declined that opportunity.

Leonard volunteered to be part of a platoon of paratroopers schooled in removing mines and wiring bridges to explode. He was reassigned after being injured during a nighttime training jump on April 1, 1943. Leonard damaged his right shoulder and suffered multiple fractures of the metatarsal bone in his right foot. Although he was connected by a harness to the top of a 250-foot tower, the jump was a free fall. Owing to the rationing of gasoline, the ambulance was not allowed to take him to a hospital until 2 hours later when it was fully loaded with patients..

Leonard was seated in a waiting room when he saw a doctor in the next room reading x-rays. Peeking into the waiting room, the doctor then called out “Which of you men is Borg? “I am, sir”, Leonard responded. “Well, shouted the doctor, “when you break something, you really break it”. Leonard was hospitalized for nearly six months. A sore shoulder and arthritic foot bothered Leonard for the rest of his life, but never slowed him down.

There was a silver lining to his accident. Shortly before the accident, Leonard had volunteered for a special team within the paratroopers that disposed of bombs and wired bridges with explosives. All 23 members of his demolition platoon who were shipped overseas perished in a single explosion. The platoon was removing ammunition from a captured German truck when the truck received a direct hit from a German artillery shell.

Following his release from Fort Benning Hospital, Leonard married Jewel Elizabeth Crawford. She was to become his wife of 43 years. With 100,000 troops swelling Fort Benning during wartime, familial housing in Columbus was so scarce that the newlyweds initially had to accept a home that was badly in need of repairs and share the kitchen and bath with their landlords. Even a former doll house in the backyard was rented - to a soldier, his wife and two children!

When superiors learned that Leonard could type, Leonard was reassigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company of The Paratrooper School. Compared to 150 in a normal company, Leonard’s company of paratroopers contained 500 men and had the largest company payroll in the army. Within Leonard’s purview were the pay and service records for all those in the Parachute School. The payroll calculations were complicated by the extra "jump pay" that parachutists receive for the hazards of their work. As Leonard soon became acknowledged as a leading expert on paratrooper’s pay for the entire Army, he was constantly sent pay records by paymasters who did not understand how to calculate jump pay. Correcting the errors in those service records allowed Leonard to track what happened to the men with whom he had trained. Very few in his former regiment returned alive.

Leonard's training had been with the 501st Paratroop Infantry Regiment, which later became part of the 101st Airborne. The 101st Airborne was dropped behind enemy lines near Caen on D-Day (June 6, 1944) and played a vital role during the Battle of the Bulge by blunting the German offensive at Bastogne from December 16, 1944 until January 28, 1945.

In his desk job at Fort Benning, Leonard advanced rapidly to the rank of Technical Sergeant. He was sent to Fort Blanding, Florida for his honorable military discharge on February 3, 1946.

Leonard hoped to avail himself of the G.I. Bill by applying for admission to Emory University. As Leonard sat in the office of admissions, the admissions director studied his transcript. “Were you sick a lot in high school?” he wondered. “Well, to be honest with you,” Leonard admitted, “my father loved to fish and hunt. He often pulled me out of school to hunt with him”. Leonard matriculated at Emory University on March 15, 1946. On August 9, his first child (Leonard, Jr.) was born. The family lived initially lived with Leonard’s parents in Decatur.

With industrial production shifted to address military needs following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, an acute shortage of automobiles ensued. By 1946, Leonard's four-door 1936 Chevrolet was ten years old and in need of replacement. When Leonard found someone willing to sell a newer model of Plymouth, he leapt at the opportunity. Although finding a new car was extremely difficult, locating a buyer for his own car was a breeze. Leonard pushed through the paperwork required by the Office of Price Administration, which tried to ensure that sellers did not take advantage of widespread shortages to charge inflated prices. Leonard wanted to conduct the sale of his Chevy and his purchase of the Plymouth simultaneously, but the seller of the Plymouth insisted on using his car for one more night.; so Leonard sold the Chevy and waited for the next day to acquire the Plymouth. Over night the intended seller of the Plymouth was involved in an accident which totally destroyed the car.

Being left without a car, Leonard rode to Emory on a motor scooter. Although Leonard was on the wait list for a new car as soon as production resumed after the war, he had exhausted two motor scooters before it arrived.

Leonard received his Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in March, 1949. In spring, 1949, Leonard accepted a job with Retail Credit Company. For approximately six months he performed credit investigations.

On April 1, 1950 Leonard became a detailman, the term for a salesman of pharmaceuticals, on behalf of the Stuart Company of Pasadena, California. Named as Stuart's top salesman nationwide, Leonard was awarded a trip for his wife and himself to Pasadena and the Rose Bowl of 1952. They boarded a train for Chicago where they joined with other members of the traveling party. They convivial group sang so many songs en route route to Stuart’s headquarters in Pasadena that the conductor claimed Leonard’s wife knew every word to every song ever written.

In Arizona, the train paused long enough for passengers to enjoy a short bus ride to the Grand Canyon. Having a head cold, Jewel remained on the bus instead of braving the wintry weather. Leonard and nearly everyone else disembarked the bus for a brief walk to the rim of the canyon. When members of the party began to return to the bus, they were all abuzz about the man who had nearly fallen into the Grand Canyon. Jewel instantly knew that sounded like Leonard! He had been standing as near the ledge as possible and peering down into the canyon when his feet slipped out from under him on the ice. As he slid down toward the precipice, he was barely able to arrest his movement in time.

Arthur Hamish, the extremely wealthy owner of Stuart, entertained them in his home. On a visit to a motion picture studio, they were introduced to various celebrities including Evonne DeCarlo and Charles Laughton.

In 1951, the family built a new house on Azalea Circle in DeKalb County. The location is now a parking lot for the Claremont Road Presbyterian Church. On February 6, 1954, the Leonard and Jewel’s second child, June Elizabeth Borg, was born.

In mid 1953, Leonard joined the Roerig Division of Pfizer, one of the largest pharmaceutical firms. In 1959, Leonard moved to his final residence on Broadland Road in Buckhead.

In June, 1960, he accepted a position as a sales manager with Reid Laboratories of Atlanta, Georgia. Reid’s founder and president, Ed Rader, was a promoter who was fond of driving his convertible with the top down and a couple of show dogs in the back seat. When Ed suddenly died, Leonard was named president on January 1, 1961.

Leonard knew that Reid was still a fledgling pharmaceutical marketing firm, but he was stunned after being allowed to view the company’s financial statements for the first time; Reid was hemorrhaging money at an alarming rate.

That wasn’t Reid’s only problem; it had no manufacturing capability of its own and those manufacturing for it under contract were performing poorly. Cough syrups and other liquids on the shelves of customers sometimes exploded!

There was a bias against pharmaceutical companies that did not manufacture their own products. Reid’s products were generics made by others who packaged them with Reid's labels and in Reid's boxes. For years, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) of the U.S. Government allowed the labels to indicate only “distributed by Reid Laboratories”. Then the FDA began to require labeling to disclose “Manufactured by XYZ and distributed by Reid Laboratories”. The Wall Street Journal and members of the media began to rail against private pharmaceutical firms owned by physicians whose prescriptions accounted for most of the company’s sales.

In 1963 Leonard engineered the acquisition of Pharmaceutical Enterprises, a Miami-based manufacturer of pharmaceuticals. He then relocated its staff of forty to Atlanta. The manufacturing organization was led by a superb Cuban chemist, Dr. Bertha Iturrioz, who had operated the largest pharmaceutical company in Cuba until it was nationalized by Fidel Castro in the early 1960s. Joining with the principals of companies that had been two of her largest rivals in Cuba, the threesome was able to pool enough capital to launch Pharmaceutical Enterprises in Miami.

Once Reid possessed the skill in manufacturing provided by the Cubans, it became an attractive merger partner for firms that lacked such capability. In short succession, Reid merged with three such companies. The first company was based in Ithaca, New York. In 1964, Reid merged with two other companies anxious to merge with Reid: Scott-Lee of New Orleans and Provident Laboratories of Chattanooga. Scott-Lee was significantly smaller than Reid, but Provident was nearly as large as Reid.

The combined concern, christened Reid-Provident Laboratories, was headquartered in Atlanta. The offices in New Orleans and Chattanooga were closed. Leonard was named President of the combined concern.

To provide office space for the expanding company, Leonard purchased the former Upjohn Building on 5th Street in Atlanta. Following conversion of this former office / warehouse, Reid received approval from The State Board of Pharmacy for Georgia's first facility to manufacture prescription drugs. Leonard then moved its new manufacturing division from Miami to Atlanta. Reid manufactured liquids, tablets, ointments, and suppositories, both for itself and for others. With its growth propelled by a combination of strong intrinsic growth and mergers, by 1968 revenues were ten times what they had been when Leonard was first named CEO of Reid some seven years sooner.

One of Leonard’s acquaintances, Harold “Red” Palmer, invented the tranquilizer gun for subduing wild animals. On a ranch in Douglasville, Red kept a menagerie of animals on which to test his invention. “If you ever get a small lion cub” Leonard requested, “”I surely would like to show it to my mother; she is wild about lions”. It wasn’t long before Leonard surprised his family with a lion cub. It was only a little larger than a large domestic cat, but it weighed twice as much and its paws were huge. Leonard was petting the lion when young June Borg and her friend, Jean Gober, walked by. "Come see my kitty cat" said Leonard. "That's no kitty cat" June replied firmly. Dogs were also quick to understand that he was not a housecat. Even Roger, the powerful seventy-pound canine from next door, was cowed.

Leonard could not wait to show the cub to his mother, who was crazy about lions. She immediately kissed the lion and squeezed him to her chest. “Mom”, Leonard cautioned, “don’t hug that lion so hard!” However, the lion loved her attentions. As Annie had forsaken driving, her visitors were always asked to take her to a grocery store. En route, Annie never ceased hugging and stroking the lion. When they arrived at the grocery store, Annie stepped inside the store. Obviously missing her attentions, the lion began ripping the upholstery in Leonard’s new car. To assuage the lion, Leonard grabbed it and followed Annie into the grocery store. Even from the front of the store the lion could smell the meat counter at the rear. With his mouth nipping and his four paws scratching, the lion quickly managed to break free of Leonard’s grasp. As the lion dashed down the aisle past two ladies, one asked "Was that a cat I just saw?" The second one, with eyes as large as saucers, said "I...I...don't think so." By the time Leonard caught up with the lion, it was trying to climb up the meat counter. Grabbing the lion by the nape of the neck, Leonard was able to rush him out of the store and toss him in the trunk.

After that experience, Leonard returned the lion to Red’s former employee, George Colbreath. George decided to keep the lion at his house for a few weeks before returning it to Red Palmer. One day, George was sitting outside his house with the lion at his feet. Each time George placed his beer can on the ground, the lion would paw it a bit. Apparently it became possessive about the can. When George next picked up the can, the cub bit all the way through his hand.

In 1968, Leonard left and entered the real estate business, where he represented several European investors. Borg Realty assembled three tracts of land on Peachtree Street in Midtown for Belgium investors. The tracts were at the s.e.c. of Peachtree & 8th St., n.e.c. of Peachtree & 10th, and s.e.c. of Peachtree & 11th St.. On behalf of the Belgians he later sold the parcels to Trammell Crow for development of 999 Peachtree. Also on behalf of the Belgian investors, Leonard and Dean Spratlin developed an affluent and popular subdivision of 30 lots in the Buckhead area called Arden Close.

In the midst of busy period in his real estate career, he was called upon to help some old friends. The Cuban-Americans who had given Reid-Provident its manufacturing capability had gradually left to form a new company called Mikart. By 1981, Mikart had terrific potential but needed to restructure its obligations to creditors. Having observed Leonard’s work at Reid firsthand, in 1981 they asked him to accept the role of President of Mikart. His task was to place the company on a sound financial footing. Given Leonard’s prior relationships with some of the vendors and his winning ways with people, Mikart emerged successfully from Chapter 11 bankruptcy within 18 months. With the turnaround completed, the owners resumed the management of Mikart and Leonard returned to his real estate business. Mikart, which has now celebrated its 35th anniversary, has been remarkably successful ever since.

Leonard lost his wife, Jewel, to cancer on April 27,1986.

During his career, Leonard was also been active in civic work. When the Mercer School of Pharmacy was threatened with loss of accreditation because its obsolete facility, Trustee Chairman Carlton Henderson and Dean Oliver Littlejohn asked Leonard's help with fund raising. Leonard and Max Ginsberg headed the "Centurion Drive" for The Southern School of Pharmacy. This effort, the first fundraising drive to target alumni of the school, raised over $2 million. With matching funds from a charitable institution, the School of Pharmacy was able to construct a new facility across the street from Georgia Baptist Hospital on Moreland Avenue. This saved the school's accreditation and also made it an attractive acquisition for Mercer University. By the early 1990s, Mercer was recognized as one of the nation's top schools of pharmacy. In April, 1993, the Mercer School of Pharmacy presented Leonard the (Non alumnus) Meritorious Service Award.

For over 44 years Leonard was a member of the Midtown Atlanta Rotary, earlier known as the Brookwood Rotary and then the Brookwood-Midtown Rotary. Although he served as secretary of the Rotary one year and as sergeant-at-arms for 11 years, he was too busy to accept several opportunities to serve as President. When another opportunity arose in 1998, he was delighted to accept the presidency; even though, he was by then one of the older presidents in the club’s history.

When Leonard needed a date for the Rotary Christmas Party in December, 1977, he thought of Mary Smith. Mary, who had always addressed him as “Mr. Borg” when she worked with him at Reid-Provident Laboratories, found that a hard habit to break. A decade later, he impishly suggested that she return to addressing him in that respectful manner! They became engaged during a Rotary cruise of the Mediterranean and announced their betrothal at the Midtown Atlanta Rotary Christmas Party of December, 1998. They were married in Charleston, Mary’s birthplace on March 13, 1999. Being retired by then, Leonard took an active role in the trade shows at which Mary’s company had a booth.

Their happy union was interrupted on November 7, 2010 when Leonard succumbed to congestive heart failure. Leonard is survived by his wife, Mary; his son, Leonard E. Borg, Jr.; daughter, June Borg Arnold; grandsons Harry Dudley Arnold of Atlanta and Crawford Anderson Arnold of San Francisco; and Mary’s grandchildren, Shawn William McLendon and Ryan Paul McLendon of Cumming.

Arrangements under the direction of H.M. Patterson & Son, Spring Hill in Atlanta, GA.