The writing style seems very "sim"-ilar to the other online memorial rubbish we have become familiar with.Matthew G. Leonard '87
September 11, 2001
I met Matt Leonard during our first month at Columbia Law School and found - like most of my classmates - that the more you knew him, the more you liked him. In the competitive maelstrom of that first year, Matt was imperturbable and always upbeat. Matt was always socializing: Within a month or two, he seemed to know everyone in the class.
Matt was no laggard, though. He consistently impressed his classmates with his ability to chalk up top grades without putting too much effort into it. By the time our third year rolled around, he was spending more time roaming the halls and conversing than attending class. To this day, I remain convinced that he mastered the law by osmosis as it seeped through the back walls of the lecture halls and wafted through the corridors. Friends from Georgetown, his college alma mater, confirmed that he was well known for his ability to wait until the 11th hour and turn out a brilliant and insightful essay in a single draft.
What really distinguished Matt, though, was not his intellect but his attitude toward life. First, Matt was one of the most generous people I have known. While at Regis High School, he tutored gifted but underprivileged children in the Bronx; in law school, he ran the moot court program and began pro bono work with MFY Legal Services, which provided legal assistance to the poor in Chinatown. Matt joined the board of directors of MFY, spent five years as its vice chairman, and continued his work there throughout his career. Matt and his wife, Yolanda Cerda, also sponsored an inner-city student through four years of high school.
Matt was also the quintessential "regular guy." A native son of Brooklyn - "God's country," we called it - Matt was equally at home with the poor and disadvantaged as with the professionals he worked with. He would strike up a conversation with anyone, anywhere and, because he treated everyone as equals, everyone responded to him warmly. His wife recalls coming home from work one winter evening and coming out of the Borough Hall subway station to see Matt on the corner with his arm around a homeless person, singing Christmas carols.
The most impressive thing about Matt, though, was his wonderful sense of balance. He was certainly a Renaissance man and did many things well. Yet one always got the sense that Matt knew what he wanted from life and what he wanted had nothing to do with wealth, power, or prestige. He lived for his family and his friends and enjoyed nothing more than good food, good company, and good conversation. Matt loved excursions through the city in search of a new restaurant or new ingredients for the wonderful meals he made. Any visitor to his home could expect to be plied with an assortment of exotic antipasti and a large glass of red wine (usually the first of several), followed by a superb meal. As a friend put it, "Cooking, for Matt, was another tangible expression of the love he felt for those around him. Meals were manifestations of the great relationships he formed and an opportunity for connecting with his friends and family and sharing his life and joy of living with them."
Of course, there were a few things Matt was absolutely passionate about, and his wife, Yolanda, and his six-month-old daughter, Christina, were at the top of the list. Matt met Yolanda while they were both at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, and I distinctly remember his excitement when he met her. I had previously thought that only the exploits of Georgetown's basketball team could get him this worked up, but Yolanda raised the bar.
After law school, Matt clerked for District Judge Peter Leisure in the Southern District of New York. Recalling Matt, Judge Leisure said: "When I was first appointed, Judge Vincent Broderick [who was already sitting in the Southern District], advised me that one of the things you might not expect as a judge is how much your law clerks become like an extension of your own family. That was particularly true of Matt. There is a saying that is particularly appropriate of Matt, ‘If you have him as a friend, you don't need many friends.'"
After his clerkship, Matt joined the litigation department of Willkie. After several years at Willkie, he moved to Chase Manhattan Corporation. He had joined Cantor, Fitzgerald & Co. as assistant general counsel just over a year ago.
- Bill Harrison '87
"It's not a matter of what is true that counts but a matter of what is perceived to be true." - Henry Kissinger
He's cut into the background, which is typically close, colours are blocky, lines fuzzy etc, and can’t decide if he’s supposed to be wearing glasses. Not sure where all this is going but he sure looks like a 9/11 related fake.
