Born Nov. 28, 1928, in Bridgeport, Leiss graduated from Roger Ludlowe High School in 1946 and Michigan State University. He served in the Army, first attending Officers Candidate School at Fort Riley, Kan., then serving with the 14th Armored Calvary.
Leiss studied law at the University of Connecticut and served as legal counsel to General Motors Acceptance Corporation in New York City and Stamford. He later joined Miller Bent and Smith law firm in Bridgeport and became a partner at Nikse and Leiss in Newtown, Conn.
A lifelong avid horseman, Leiss trained and rode hunters and jumpers for various owners in his youth. In his later years, he owned horses and loved hunting and riding with Fairfield County Hounds and Bull Run Hunt in Culpepper, Va.
Leiss is survived by his wife of 60 years, Sylvia Gernert Leiss; two daughters, Susan (Billy) Romatzick, of Stratford, Conn., and Sandra (Paul) Templeton, of Doylestown, Pa.; a son, Mark (Jamie) Leiss, of Far Hills, N.J.; a sister, Marcia Brendell, of Louisville, Ky.; nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Greenfield Hill Congregational Church in Fairfield. Burial will be private. Spear-Miller Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the Connecticut State Library of the Blind, 198 West St. Rocky Hill, CT 06067.
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