Mayor - Dr. - MPP Stanley Francis Leavine

1896 - 1958  (61 years)

• Name	Stanley Francis Leavine
  Prefix	Mayor - Dr. - MPP
  Born	13 Oct 1896	Leeds, South Crosby Twp., Leeds, Ontario
  Gender	Male
  Elected Office	1938	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  	mayor - councillor - Kitchener
  	Years Served: 1938-41, 1943-49, 1950 (Mayor)-51, 1957, 1958 (Mayor) Jan-Aug
  FindAGrave	https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/195788939
  Name	S. F. Leavine
  Occupation	Doctor
  Residence	667 King St. W., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-193295P
  Died	27 Jul 1958	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Buried	Woodland Cem., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Person ID	I193295	Generations
  Last Modified	7 Nov 2024

  
  

  Family	Desta Gertrude Buse,   b. 1897, Kingston, Frontenac Co., Ontario, Canada ,   d. 1965  (Age 68 years)
  Married	18 Jun 1921	, Frontenac Co., Ontario
  Last Modified	12 Nov 2024
  Family ID	F34168	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  LEAVINE, STANLEY FRANCIS was born in Elgin, Leeds County, on October 13, 1896, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Francis Leavine. Hr attended Athens High School, and obtained his medical education at Queen's University, graduating in 1920. He spent a year in Bellevue Hospital, New York, after a year interning at the Kingston General Hospital, before beginning his practice here in 1923. His training and his ability enabled him to build up a sizeable practice. It has been said that, later in his career, he was offered a teaching position at Queen's University, an offer of which he did not avail himself. As was the local custom, he usually worked in a group, consisting latterly of himself, Drs. McNally and Morrison. Apart from his standing in the profession, he is best known for his interest and activity in politics. Beginning with municipal politics, he was first elected to City Council in 1938, and was returned as alderman every year, with one exception, until 1949. He served as Mayor in 1950 and 1951. He was elected to the Provincial Legislature in the fall of 1951, and remained there until defeated in 1956. He returned once more to municipal politics and was elected first as alderman, and then as Mayor. He was a member of the usual professional and fraternal organizations. He served on the Kitchener Waterloo Hospital Commission, and was a member of the Kitchener Board of Health. He was a Captain in the Reserve, in the 24th. Field Ambulance. In addition to his busy schedule, he found time to contribute articles to the British Medical Journal. Part of his popularity as a politician may have been due to his availability to the public. He undertook a brisk walk of two and a half miles, and was often consulted by his constituents during these walks. In spite of this form of daily exercise, he died suddenly of a heart attack on July 27, 1958, at 6l years of age. He was survived by his widow and two daughters, of whom Dr. Desta Leavine is a practising dermatologist. The building housing the Public Health Department, across the street from the Kitchener-Waterloo Hospital, bears his name to preserve his memory. Dr. Alexander D. Campbell, Doctors in Waterloo County 1852-1925, 1986 ___________ Mayor Widely Mourned Funeral of Leavine Set for Wednesday. Funeral services for Kitchener's mayor, Dr. Stanley Francis Leavine, who died yesterday morning, will be conducted at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at King St. Baptist Church. Rev. Harold J. Baldson, pastor of the church, will conduct the last rites. The funeral of the popular mayor is expected to be one of the largest in recent years. He will be buried in Woodland Cemetery. Dr. Leavine is widely mourned In this community and its environs. A former member of the Ontario legislature and probably the city's best known physician and surgeon, he died in K-W Hospital at the age of 61 years. He was taken to the hospital Tuesday following a heart attack in his home, 667 King St. West. SERVED HERE 35 YEARS The body will be at the Ratz-Bechtel Funeral Home until Wed- nesday noon. A Masonic service, under the auspices of Twin City Lodge AF and AM, will be conducted at the funeral home to night at 7:30 o'clock. He was senior deacon of the lodge. A physician and surgeon here for 35 years, the mayor effectively coupled an active political life with his duties as a doctor. He entered City Council in 1938 as an alderman. He was returned every year but one until 1949. Dr. Leavine served his first two terms as mayor in 1950 and 1951. In November of 1951, he defeated J. G. Brown to assume a seat in the Ontario legislature as Waterloo North's Progressive Conservative representative. He remained in the legislature until defeated in 1956 by John J. Wintermever, the present leader of the Liberal party. BORN IN LEEDS COUNTY In the same year as his provincial defeat, Dr. Leavine re turned to municipal polities. He was elected as an alderman and won the mayoralty last December. His birthplace was Elgin in Leeds County. He was a son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Francis Leavine. The doctor-mayor was educated at Athens High School and Queen's University in Kingston. He out himself through university by working during the summer at a cheese factory in Elgin. Three years ago the mayor said if given a week or two to practise he could return to that field again and make a living. He learned the trade in the cheese factory operated by his father. CHOSE KITCHENER After graduation, Dr. Leavine interned at Kingston General Hospital in 1920-21 and did a year's post-graduate study at the Belleview and Allied Hospitals in New York. He considered both Ottawa and Kitchener when it came time to set up a practice. But Dr. Leavine chose Kitchener and came here in 1923. Combined with the ordinary duties of his practice, the mayor wrote several medical papers which appeared in the British Medical Journal. It is understood The just completed work on a thesis. He also served on the Kitchener Board of Health, K-W Hospital Commission and was a member of the Ontario Medical Association and Waterloo County Medical Association. During the Second World War, Dr. Leavine served as a captain with the 24th Field Ambulance reserve. "WALKING MAYOR" He was known as "the walking mayor." He earned this title by the 24-mile walk he took every morning since early in the 1930s. Rain or shine, the doctor took to the sidewalk every day. And he walked at a fast clip for his medium height. He was a familiar figure to early risers on King street. The mayor altered the course of his walks frequently. One of his favorites started at his King street west residence, alon King street to Eby street, up Eby to Church, from Church to Queen south, down Queen to King and back to his home. Walking before breakfast was taken up by the mayor after he found himself overweight for his height and bothered with a form of sinusitis. Often he set out after returning from a night call. NOT ALWAYS A PC Although he served in the Ontario legislature as a Conservative, Dr. Leavine had not always supported that party. His first ballot, cast when he was 21. was for the now-defunct United Farmers of Ontario. The mayor was also active in lodge circles. He was a member of Twin City Lodge, AF and AM, Lodge of Perfection, Rose Croix and Moore Consistory, Hamilton, and Mocha Temple. He was also a member of Grand Union Lodge, IOOF; Waterloo County Shrine Club, Queen's University Alumni, and vice-chairman of the Waterloo College As- sociate Faculties board of governors. Dr. Leavine married the former Desta G. Buse, who survives, in Kingston in 1921. His eldest daughter, Dr. Desta Leavine of Detroit, followed her father into the medical profession. The younger daughter, Pauline of Kitchener, is a graduate of Waterloo College. The mayor is also survived by a sister, Mrs. Thomas Warren of Brockville. Kitchener-Waterloo Record Kitchener, Ontario, Canada Mon, Jul 28, 1958 Page 1

  
  

• Event Map

  Elected Office - mayor - councillor - Kitchener - 1938 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - - 667 King St. W., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Died - 27 Jul 1958 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Buried - - Woodland Cem., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth