Elmer Leach Foundation

The Elmer Leach Foundation served the Oshkosh Community for over 39 years. It was founded by David C. Leach, president of the Leach Company in Oshkosh for 30 years. David established the Foundation following the death of his father, Elmer Leach, who was a prominent Oshkosh industrialist and president of the Leach Company until his death in 1963. David started the Foundation in recognition of the role that skilled nurses played in assisting his father. The Elmer Leach Foundation began awarding nursing scholarships through Mercy Hospital’s nursing program. In 1982, they established the Elmer Leach Foundation Undergraduate Student Award at the UW Oshkosh Foundation in recognition of the UW Oshkosh nursing program and the high quality of nursing students the University has educated. The Leach Family decided to permanently endow the scholarship fund in 2004 when the Elmer Leach Foundation dissolved.