Roy Hugh Esmond McLeod, 89 of Parkland, FL and Flushing, NY, entered into eternal rest on Thursday, April 11, 2024. He is survived by his 2 daughters, Heather McLeod (Michael McClain) and Samantha McLeod; brother Lloyd Lewis; aunts Valerie Bryan McKnight and Weina Bryan Jones; uncle Stanley Bryan, Sr.; and so many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends throughout the US, Jamaica, and England. He is preceded in death by his brother, Owen Duffus; mother, Ethel Bryan Lewis; aunts Syble Bryan Frater, Dorrell Bryan, Mervis Bryan Henry; uncles Newton Bryan, Norris Bryan, Laurie Bryan, Sr.; and nephew, Leroy Duffus.

Roy (nee Hugh) was born on July 6, 1934 in St. Mary, Jamaica, W.I. to parents Ethel Elizabeth Bryan and Rainford McLeod, and as part of an extensive family who played a significant role in his upbringing. He was 1 of 4 inaugural students to attend the Iona High School (originally Folk High School) in Lucky Hill, St Mary, and would go on to graduate from Kingston Technical High School in the capital city of Jamaica. Following graduation, he went to work in the bauxite mines in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, saving money to emigrate to the United States.

Roy came to the United States in 1957 as a student attending Blackburn College in Carlinville, IL, where he earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics, minoring in chemistry and physics in 1961. Two years later, he would earn his first master's degree in mathematics with a minor in physics from New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Following graduation, Roy traversed the US where he would complete his formal education and meet his future wife, Maple Annette Milton, at Columbia University in New York. There, he earned his 2nd master's at the Teacher's College in 1971 and his educational doctorate in 1975. In between those 2 degrees, he married Maple in 1973, and they welcomed their first daughter Heather Cecilia in 1974. They welcomed their second daughter Samantha Maple in 1979.

Roy began a long and illustrious teaching career in New York at Manhattan College and Hunter College, where he taught mathematics for just 1 year at each, but made lifelong friends. A new community college was established in 1967, and Roy would be one of 4 founding professors to open LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, New York beginning in 1971. He would become the first Chair of the Mathematics Department at LaGuardia, and would be instrumental in hiring the best of the best instructors in that department. Many of the

professors he hired, he also mentored, and some went on to become Department Chairs as well. He would become the Dean of Faculty (Provost) of LaGuardia before officially retiring in 1997, but continued teaching as an adjunct professor until 2020. He authored textbooks used within the community college system, and was known amongst his colleagues as the go-to keynote speaker for many formal events.

In addition to being an active and well-known member of the Kingston Technical High School Alumni Association, a revered alumnus of Blackburn College, and serving on the boards of the Carlyle Towers Co-op and the Northeast Region Council of Black American Affairs, Roy McLeod was a ferocious reader, avid world traveler, amateur musician (piano), lover of classical music, charismatic speaker, devout Christian, and a pioneering educator. The world is a much richer place because he was in it, and we are forever blessed and impacted to have had him in our lives.

Florida:

Celebration of Life Service will be held on Saturday, May 4 at 11:00am at Plantation United Methodist Church located at 1001 NW 70th Avenue, Plantation, FL 33313. This service will be live-streamed for those unable to attend in person. A link to view will be provided closer to the date.

New York:

Celebration of Life Service will be held on Saturday, May 18 at 5:30pm at The Riverside Church located at 490 Riverside Dr, New York, NY 10027.

Services for Roy are in the care of Coral Springs Funeral Home. Please share your memories of Roy or leave your condolences to his family with this online guestbook.