F.
J. LeClair, Horticulturist and Landscape Architect
by J. R. Massey
Francis J. LeClair was
born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1884 and graduated from the State School of
Horticulture near Brussels in 1904. He emigrated to
the United States in 1905 and worked for some years in the Baltimore,
Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. areas.
In 1934 he was sent to North Carolina by the
Department of Agriculture, and was hired in 1935 as a Landscape Gardener by
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He worked for a time under
the guidance of Dr. William Chambers Coker, and after Dr. Coker's death in
1953, became Director of Grounds. Mr. LeClair
retired in 1959 after twenty-five years at the University. He died November
11, 1973 at the age of 89.
To honor this renowned horticulturist and
landscape architect, whose labor, love and skill added so measurably to the
interest and beauty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
campus, friends established the Francis J. LeClair
Award. This award is given annually to an outstanding graduating senior for
academic excellence in biology with an emphasis in plant sciences.
Recipients
of the Francis J. LeClair Award at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
1974
Sandra B. Prather
1975 Marilyn C. Feldstein
1976 Leslie C. Tolley
1977 Richard L. Blanton
1978 Alan S. Weakley
1979 Claire M. McCall
1980 David F. McCain
1981 Frances Trail
1982 Steven H. Doares
1983 Timothy D. McDowell
1984 Shelia R. Ward
1985 Laura A. Buchanan
1986 Elizabeth A. Dickerson
1987 Randall S. Faircloth
1988 Gregory D. Goins
1989 Douglas B. Clark
1990 James W. Britt
1991 Rebecca A. Reed
1992 Susan L. Minneimeyer
1993 Richard C. Moore and Brian R. Kreiser
1994 Heather L. Griffins
1995 Christine C. Muth
1996 Rachel A. Harden
1998 Terri A. Long
2000 Robert I. McDonald and Amanda A. Mack
2002 Allison Jennifer Tuell
2003
Lisa Giencke
2004 Daniel McGlinn
2005 Megan Mailloux
2007 Jessica E. Long
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Francis
Joseph LeClair, A Life of Hollies and Horticulture
By William R. Burk, 26 November 2001
Francis J. LeClair had
an important role in beautifying the University of North Carolina campus,
known for its attractiveness and diversity of shrubs and trees.
Born in Antwerp, Belgium, on June 21, 1884,
Francis Joseph LeClair attended the State School of
Horticulture near Brussels. He graduated in 1904 and emigrated
to the United States the following year. Initially, he worked in nurseries in
Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, and New York. He was then hired by
the United States Government to fill various roles. While working with the
United States Soil Conservation Service, he headed for North Carolina in the
early 1930s where his new responsibilities included selecting grasses to
control soil erosion in coastal areas. First appointed as a landscape
gardener at UNC around 1939, LeClair later became
University landscape architect. Honing his skills and love of horticulture at
Carolina, he officially retired on 7 November 1957.
For the campus plantings, he chose shrubs and
trees that offered seasonal interest throughout the year. Evergreens
especially were included in his plantings to evoke cheerfulness in the winter
months and soften the coldness of large stone and brick buildings throughout
the year. Of the evergreens used, LeClair grew over
120 varieties of hollies, many of them planted on
the UNC grounds. He developed and introduced one of these, “Pearle LeClair,” named for his wife and noted for its large,
bright red fruits. This holly is planted in the Coker Arboretum. Stretching
from East Franklin Street to the Hinton James dormitory, his memorable
landscape designs include the original rose garden in front of the Morehead
Planetarium and the remodeling of the Old Well.
LeClair was firmly rooted into his horticultural profession.
Even after retiring, he served UNC as a landscape consultant. At his farm in
Pittsboro, NC, he spent his free time growing hollies and other plants. UNC
administrators and faculty, as well as local friends, recognized his
accomplishments. In 1956 the Faculty Council passed a resolution of
commendation “for his notable contribution to the beauty of the campus.” His
friends and colleagues honored him by establishing in the Botany Department
(now Biology) the annual Francis J. LeClair Award
in Botany, which was first given in 1974 to a senior selected for high
scholarship.
Francis J. LeClair
died November 11, 1973, and is buried in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery. He has
left a horticultural legacy that is enjoyed by many who traverse the Carolina
campus in Chapel Hill.
Nearly a decade after LeClair’s
death, nationally recognized horticulturist, garden writer, and longtime
Chapel Hill resident, William Lanier Hunt, led a holly walk on the UNC
campus. An article on this occasion was published in the January 1983 issue
of the Holly Letter, newsletter of the Holly Society of America. Mr. Hunt
dedicated the tour to several people, among them Francis J. LeClair. He remembered LeClair
as a “wonderful horticulturist, delightful and cantankerous man, whose
beautiful plantings” adorn the campus. During the two-hour walk through the
two hundred-year-old campus, attendees beheld mature specimens of the older
American holly cultivars. Hunt continued by saying that “older plantings here
are the work of F. J. LeClair, one of the great promoters
of the Holly Society [of America] in its formative period. Recent plantings
were made by Larry Trammel. The very oldest trees were planted, I think by
God.”
Little doubt exists that Francis LeClair introduced and named the Pearle LeClair holly. Hunt, however, provides some background on
its origin, claiming that he found it “on the streets of Chapel Hill as
Christmas greens. Mr. LeClair did not know that Jim
Spencer at the old Lindley Nursery in Greensboro [NC] had propagated this
holly for me, nor that the trees were already
growing in my arboretum when LeClair came to Chapel
Hill. These trees are still there. Since that time, I have given a large
specimen to the campus (lost in a drought) and two more to the Coker
Arboretum.” The origin of this special holly may be buried in time, but its
splendor prevails.
