On Friday, March 13th, friends and family gathered at Trinity Church in Upperville to celebrate the life of William Henry Leachman III who died from Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma on March 9th at the age of 48.

Born in 1960, in Washington, DC, he moved with his parents to Virginia when he was nine years old. After graduating from The Hill School in Middleburg, he attended St. James School in Hagerstown, MD and Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA, graduating with the class of 1983. He pursued careers in real estate and investment banking prior to moving to Markham in the mid 80s, to work at Northern Counties, Inc., a family construction business based in Upperville which was sold in 1991.

Bill called himself a farmer, but he was a man of many talents and interests, including a successful entrepreneur who founded The Virginia Leaf Tobacco Company in the mid 90s and which he ran, together with a tobacco retailing and wholesaling business. A love of wine and the outdoors naturally led him to explore the idea of a winery, and he purchased a ten-acre parcel of land in the heart of Mendoza, Argentina early this century and produced, along with winemaker Olivier Ruhard, 675 cases of a delicious Malbec wine called La Bruja, which won several accolades including "Wine of the Week" at the French Hound in Middleburg.

In addition to his vocation, Bill was a natural athlete and enjoyed surfing, scuba diving, fly fishing and riding. As a teenager, he graduated from Pony Club and horse shows to a season riding in local Spring Races. This chapter was cut short as he approached six feet, too tall for the role. Later in life, his riding was primarily western and based in Montana, where he vacationed many summers with his extended family.

Bill was an enthusiastic, knowledgeable bird watcher who enjoyed participating in local bird counts. He was also a keen gardener, taking pride in his vegetable garden and fruit trees. His love of the outdoors was boundless and his devotion to nature and the environment was clearly evident to those who knew him well.

He became an avid cyclist after being diagnosed with lymphoma in 2004 and participated, in September 2007, in the first of the annual 50-mile bike rides, to benefit the Lymphoma Research Foundation. Bill had many sponsors and came in second to his oncologist, another enthusiastic cyclist. The ride brings together survivors, caregivers and other individuals who ride in honor and, in memory, of those whose lives are touched by lymphoma.

Bill had purchased Elmore Farm, Markham, in the 1980s and he and Kelsey made it their home after they were married in 1994. It was the house in which his great grandmother, Mary Virginia Strother was born.

He is survived by his wife, Kelsey, and two daughters, Olivia and Hannah; his mother and stepfather, Heather and Richard Taylor; a sister Kristin and her husband, Kurt Brabbee ; a brother Jim and his wife, Mija Strong, and three nephews. His father, William H. Leachman Jr died in 1976.