Robert L. Leslie

Robert Lincoln Leslie (December 18, 1885 – April 1, 1987) was an American medical doctor, graphic designer, and typologist.

Early life and career Robert Leslie was born on December 18, 1885, in New York City’s Lower East Side to Louis Leslie, a Scottish seaman who converted to Judaism and married a Jewish immigrant from Lithuania. He entered the workforce at 14, working for a Russian intellectual and printer where he learned to love typography, printing, and to speak fluent Russian. In 1900, he enrolled at the City College of New York, where he received his undergraduate degree in 1904. He went on to attend Johns Hopkins University, where he received his M.D. in 1912. In addition to his scholarship, he worked for the printing office of Theodore Low DeVinne to pay for tuition. His first job was working for the United States Public Health Service where he redesigned government publications in Maryland. He also became an expert on bubonic plague through volunteer service at Ellis Island.

In 1918, he married Dr. Sarah Greenberg, a gynecologist, obstetrician, and the first woman in New York City to be licensed by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

In 1936, Leslie worked with Hortense Mendel to create Gallery 303. It was intended to showcase new American artists and emigres from Europe who were fleeing Nazi Germany. And in 1965, began a lecture series through the gallery, called the Heritage of Graphic Arts. He also set up a graphic arts salon that leaders of the industry including Ladislav Sutnar, Alvin Lustig and Herbert Bayer could discuss design and talk shop. In 1973, he received the Goudy award from RIT.

Robert Leslie died on April 1, 1987, in Brooklyn at 101 years of age.