Leonard B. Von Spach of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, pursued a varied career in the military, business, and government. He was also active in rescue and relief work under the direction of the American Red Cross and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency (UNRRA), in the Wisconsin Democratic Party, and in the American Legion. He attended public school in Elwood, Indiana, until 1906, when he joined the Navy and sailed around the world with President Roosevelt's “White Fleet.” During World War I, he fought with the United States Cavalry in France and advanced to the rank of captain in the Field Artillery. Following his return from overseas in 1921, he served as a major in the Reserves and later was promoted to the rank of colonel in the Wisconsin National Guard. In 1924 he married Gertrude Heath; they had two daughters, Shurley and Mary.
After the war Von Spach held several managerial level jobs in private industry, first in Florida and then in Louisiana, but after his move to southeastern Wisconsin in 1930, he increasingly sought government employment and held positions within the Federal Housing Administration and the Surplus Marketing Administration. He also became an active participant in Wisconsin Democratic Party politics, although his party loyalties were superseded by friendship in 1943 when he helped organize the Wisconsin Presidential campaign of his boyhood friend, Wendell L. Willkie.
Von Spach was rejected for military service in World War II because of age. However, in 1943 he did participate in an expedition to Mexico to search for tin, and later served as a field worker with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency (UNRRA) in Macedonia. Upon his return to the United States in 1945, he joined the Greek War Relief Association and made a nationwide speaking tour soliciting private funds for Greece. In 1960, the Greek government recognized his efforts by awarding him the Golden Cross of the Order of King George.
