Over a span of decades, Spencer Leak Jr. comforted thousands of grieving families in their most trying moments as he helped run Leak & Sons Funeral Homes — an institution on the South Side.
Since his unexpected death Sunday, his family has heard from many of them. There’s been an avalanche of calls, texts, social media messages, hot meals and sweet treats sent by those whose lives he touched, sharing their gratitude and their sorrow.
“We’re so appreciative, especially considering the family’s role has been to comfort so many other families for so many years, the support we’re receiving, it’s nourishing to our souls,” said Mr. Leak’s wife, Donna Leak. “And it’s helping us to stay focused and grounded.”
Mr. Leak, 56, hadn’t been feeling well in recent days, according to his wife, who said he’d felt ill and went to an urgent-care center a few days before his death. He was recovering at home from what was chalked up as a gastrointestinal virus.
But he was found unresponsive at his home in Flossmoor on Sunday morning, and paramedics taking him to a hospital in Olympia Fields couldn’t revive him, his wife said.
“He died peacefully in his sleep,” she said, adding that the family is waiting for answers on the cause of death.
“It’s devastating,” she said. “But we are a strong family, a close family, and we’re holding ourselves together, staying prayed up and staying thankful to God for the time we had.”
Nykea Pippion was among the thousands who have offered condolences on Facebook. Pippion said Mr. Leak was there for her after her 23-year-old son Xavier Joy was fatally shot by someone trying to steal his cell phone in 2017 on the South Side. He attended Whitney Young High School and Morehouse College and was back in Chicago doing volunteer work when he was killed. His father, Ra Joy, was Chris Kennedy’s gubernatorial running mate in 2018.
“I can’t even put into words,” Pippion said. “He genuinely cared for my son like it was his son, and I was his sister. There were a lot of media people and elected officials at the service, and Spencer made sure I had water, that I could walk to the restroom or go get some air and was just present over and above anything I would have expected.”
Mr. Leak coordinated a New Orleans style jazz funeral for Joy, with a brass band and a parade leading down the street from the University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Chapel, where the services were held.
“He personally was there and made sure everything went smoothly even though there were more than 2,000 people there — he wanted my son’s sendoff to be meticulously executed, and it was,” Pippion said. “And he followed up with me randomly after that with text messages, just checking in on me to see if I was doing all right.”
Mr. Leak started working at the funeral home when he was just 12 years old. His grandfather A.R. Leak had started the business in 1933, and Mr. Leak learned under his father, Spencer Leak Sr.
“Being a funeral director is a calling, and that’s how he felt about it, and not everyone can do it,” Donna Leak said. “Every day of your life, you’re comforting people who are having the worst day of their life, and somehow God gives you the passion to do it and not have it deplete you.”
In recent years, Mr. Leak took over handling calls with people who couldn’t afford a funeral for a loved one but knew they could come to the Leak family to work something out.
“Ever since our grandfather started the business in 1933, his whole motto was just to make sure that, if an African American family didn’t have the means to bury their loved ones, they could come to us and get a respectable burial,” said Stacy Leak, Mr. Leak’s brother.
Despite the grief and sadness all around, or perhaps because of it, Mr. Leak filled his life with joy. He occasionally held birthday parties for himself at the downtown Hyatt Regency. Last year, when he turned 55, more than 4,000 people came. Guests were asked to donate a winter coat for someone less fortunate.
He also held an annual barbecue at his house in Flossmoor and loved attending the Chosen Few house music festival.
“When you see so much hurt and pain and death, you want to celebrate life,” his brother said.
Mr. Leak also loved collecting classic cars. An old burgundy Cadillac was one of his favorites.
With three Leak family funeral homes — at 7838 S. Cottage Grove Ave., as well as in Matteson and Country Club Hills — Mr. Leak routinely worked seven-day weeks, took calls at all hours, but made time to attend his daughter’s dance recitals and son’s football games, often in the black suit and gold tie he’d worn to work.
He loved beach vacations in the Bahamas and spoiling his dog Lambo. When Lambo was attacked by a coyote last year, Mr. Leak posted videos on Facebook about the misadventure, expressing how happy he was that she survived and how thankful he was for his brother’s help in searching for her at night near his home.
“He was just so caring and kind,” Stacy Leak said.
Funeral services for Mr. Leak were still being arranged.