Bill Leeney was the founder of our club and served as the second president (1920-21). In the Spring of 1919, William L. Leeney, formerly Chairman of the Board of Genung’s Department Stores, was urged by a member of the New York City Rotary Club to organize a club in White Plains. Bill thought well of the idea and invited several local business and professional men to meet and discuss the possibility of such an organization. All were in hearty agreement.

The first meeting place was the Orawaupum Hotel. The next place was on the second floor of a building at Grove and Main Streets, which apparently was far from suitable as Bill Leeney dubbed it “a terrible dump.”

The archival information below was sent to us in 2008 by Jonathan Hughes, whose grandmother was Rhoda M Leeney, a niece of Bill Leeney. Jonathan was researching his ancestry and thought we would be interested in knowing about our founder. Thanks, Jonathan!
 

Bill Leeney died in 1971. His wife did not die until September 1982, so they both lived long lives. Their son Arthur Cortney Leeney died in an accident at age 18 (PDF:NYTimes 8/20/1934). One week later, Bill's father, Harold Leeney, age 82, also died (PDF:NYTimes 8/29/1934). The daughter, Muriel, born about 1914, was mentioned in the Times when she got married (PDF:NYTimes 12/29/1937): "Miss Muriel Leeney, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William L. Leeney of this place, was married this afternoon to Ulric R. Jaeger, son of R. Richard Jaeger of Mamaroneck, in the Westchester Country Club."

This remainder of this page is basically "old stuff" that probably has little or no value... but is retained on this page until I find a better place for it. Also, as we discover other archival information, I'll add it to this page. -- Webmaster