Leonard Case, Jr.

Leonard Case Jr. (January 27, 1820 – January 6, 1880) was a philanthropist from Cleveland, Ohio, who endowed the Case School of Applied Science (later Case Institute of Technology, merging with Western Reserve University to become Case Western Reserve University). Biography Case was born in Cleveland on January 27, 1820, in a house located on the corner of Superior Avenue and E. 6th Street (known then as Bank Street). In his youth, he was educated locally in Cleveland at Rev. Colley Foster's private school, located at St. Clair Avenue and Ontario Street, followed by preparatory study at Franklin T. Backus's classics school. Case entered Yale University in 1838, graduating in 1842 with honors in mathematics and languages, and notably helped found the secret society of the Scroll and Key. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati Law School in 1844, and opened a law office in Cleveland in 1845 after passing the Ohio bar exam. He limited his practice to working with his father, Leonard Case Sr., in settling claims arising from Moses Cleaveland's Connecticut Land Company. His elder brother, William Case, served as Mayor of Cleveland from 1850–1851. Leonard stayed away from the Cleveland political life, although he did build and finance the Cleveland City Hall in the form of the "Case Block" located at Superior Avenue and East 3rd Street, leasing it to the city beginning in 1875. Later when asked why he continued to own the building, he was quoted by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as saying, "how to dispose of the property so that it shall most benefit the city has given me much concern, but on one thing I am determined. Not a dollar of it shall, so far as I can help, go into the hands of politicians to be mismanaged and wasted." Leonard never married. Though he was ill for all his life, he was devoted to academic affairs. His most famous poem Treasure Trove, appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 1860, whose literary standard remained high during the period. To the surprise of the publication, Leonard mailed back a substantial check he had received for his submission, requesting the money go to another author whose poem was featured in the same edition. The Editor of the Atlantic Monthly, wrote back saying: "Dear Sir:- Your note, returning the check for 'Treasure Trove,' reached me; and I can only now mingle surprise for so unexpected courtesy with acknowledgements for it.