Leland Hodges dies; longtime business leader, helped found North Texas Community Foundation

Leland Allen Hodges Jr. died June 1, 2019. He was 90.

Hodges a longtime area business leader and one of the founding members of the North Texas Community Foundation.

According to his obituary with the Thompson Harveson and Cole Funeral Home, Hodges was born Aug. 1, 1928 in Waco. He moved to Fort Worth in 1932 and graduated from Paschal High School in 1945. He earned his B.A. and JD from the University of Texas in Austin. After he graduated from law school, he enrolled in the U.S. Navy where he spent two years at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.

In June 1956, he married Margery Ann Leonard of Fort Worth. They had four children and seven grandchildren. Ann passed away in 2001. Leland married Kaye Cummings in 2002.

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Hodge’s business accomplishments include heading up the Leonard family’s commercial real estate operation, which was recognized at one time as one of the largest commercial real estate holdings in Tarrant County. Additionally, he served as Chairman of the Board for State Reserve Life Insurance Company and Western Savings and Loan. In 1988, he started The Hodges Companies Inc., an investment holding company that was active in oil and gas and commercial real estate investments, farming and ranching, and private equity. He was still serving on the Board of Directors of PDA Corporation until death.

Hodges was a former chairman of the following organizations: North Texas Commission, Fort Worth Club, Republic Bancshares of Texas, Baylor Scott & White – All Saints Hospital, North Texas Community Foundation and North Texas Public Broadcasting-KERA/KDTN.

He was also once a member of the Board of Directors of the following organizations: Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, Boy Scouts of America, Goodwill Industries, Fort Worth YMCA, Child Guidance Center and Fort Worth Country Day School.

He was a member of the Exchange Club of Fort Worth, Fort Worth Club, Shady Oaks Country Club, The University of Texas Silver Spurs, Beta Theta Pi fraternity, Phi Alpha Delta law fraternity, State Bar of Texas and the American Bar Association. He was also a member of Southside Church of Christ for most of his adult life.

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He is survived by his wife, Kaye Cummings Hodges; his children: Pris Hodges; Leland Allen Hodges III and wife, Janet, and their children, Caroline Ann Hodges, Katherine Claire Hodges, and Genevieve Ainsworth Hodges; Margery Hodges Berry, and her children, Sam Allen Berry, Margery Ann Berry, Meredith Hay Berry and Charles Hodges Berry; Celeste Calogero and husband, Michael; and John Cummings and wife, Kory, and their children Katherine Cummings and Sarah Cummings. Special thanks to Irma Hernandez and Antonio Vasquez.

Service: 2 p.m. Tuesday, June 4, 2019 at Southside Church of Christ. Burial will be private. Visitation: 5 – 7 p.m. Monday at Thompson’s Harveson and Cole.

Pallbearers will be Sam Allen Berry and Charles Hodges Berry. Honorary pallbearers will be James E. Anthony, John W. Creecy, Wade T. Nowlin, Kleber C. Miller, A. Burch Waldron, Thell White, Ralph W. Cox and O. Paul Leonard Jr.

Memorials: All donations are requested to be made to the North Texas Community Foundation, 306 W. 7th Street, Suite 1045, Fort Worth, Texas 76102.