George B. Leonard

George B. Leonard (1872–1956) was an early 20th Century American lawyer at the firm of Leonard, Street & Deinard and a civil rights activist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, best known for his service on the Board of Regents for his alma mater, the University of Minnesota.

Background George B. Leonard was born on February 9, 1872, in Shavli (now Šiauliai), Kovno Governorate, present-day Lithuania, to Jewish parents Victor Abramson and Taube Melnick. He studied at gymnasium before the family. Barred from the University of Kazan and coming under police surveillance, he moved to Paris, where he studied at the Sorbonne and other schools. Already socialistic, he joined left-wing movements and met Keir Hardie, a Scottish miner and first Labour MP. In 1892, he migrated to the United States, worked briefly in Manhattan and Philadelphia, and then moved to Minneapolis in 1894. In 1896, he graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Leonard's associations included: Knights of Labor, Socialist Party of America (Minnesota) (1921–1947), League for Industrial Democracy, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), International Juridical Association, National Lawyers Guild (1936–1942), Foreign Policy Association, Minneapolis and Hennepin County bar associations (1924–1953), and various civil rights and Jewish aid organizations. Floyd B. Olson, Gunnar Nordbye, Maude C. Stockwell (1936-1938), Oswald Garrison Villard (1935), and Sidney Wallach (1935–1936). Boyhood papers in Russian include a diary (1887–1888), composition books, and printed items (1876–1931).