Motorlease President Jack Leary Dies

John "Jack" Leary, president of The Motorlease Corp., a fleet management company headquartered in Farmington, Conn., passed away on April 25. He was 60.

Jack was born Oct. 23, 1954, in New York, N.Y., son of the late Dan Leary, who also worked at Motorlease Corp., starting in 1960 in sales and general management until assuming full control of the company in 1976. Dan was inducted in the Fleet Hall of Fame in 2010. Dan retired in 1993, and turned over company management to his son Jack and daughter Beth, who is the company CFO.

Jack received a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., in 1976. He began his career in 1976 with The Motorlease Corp. He served with the company for nearly 40 years in various capacities, becoming president in 1988. He held this position until his death. He was a member of the Board of Directors for the American Automotive Leasing Association (AALA) from 1994 to 2015.

He married Sara Miller in 2012, and settled with her and her two children, Megan and Jason Smallwood, in Lovettsville, Va., and the vacation home they recently purchased in Paradise Island, Bahamas.

As a young man, Jack was an accomplished equestrian, competing at the national level in the sport of Combined Training. Later, he lent his expertise as an official, and served the United States Eventing Association (USEA) in many capacities, including chair of the Licensed Officials Committee, as well as the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI), judging equestrian competitions across the U.S. and internationally.

Jack was an avid historian and maintained an extensive library, with a particular interest in and vast knowledge about the American Civil War, Winston Churchill, and Margaret Thatcher.