Leonard Gerald Pardue

Leonard G. Pardue, a retired writer and editor, died October 1, 2020. He was 81 years old.

He had lived in Asheville the past 23 years, devoting his time and efforts to volunteering at First Presbyterian Church, the Elisha Mitchell (now Blue Ridge) Audubon Society, and the Cooperative Extension Service’s Master Gardener program, and to enjoying and protecting land he and his wife owned at the head of Garrett Cove in the Sandy Mush region of Buncombe County.

He thanked the Good Lord for the many blessings in his life — chief among them his beloved wife Esther (an Asheville native whose love of the mountains was a prime reason they moved to Asheville from Durham, N.C., in 1997).

He worked for 23 years as a reporter and in several editing positions, including Managing Editor, for the Louisville Times and the Courier Journal in Louisville, Ky. He also worked for Duke University from 1987 to 1989 as associate vice president and director of university relations, and as a freelance writer and editor. One of his last pieces of writing was this obituary.

He was the son of Leonard Gerald Pardue and Naomi Grant Pardue. He was born in Montgomery, AL and lived most of his childhood in south and central Florida. He was a graduate of Duke University and of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and did graduate study in history at UNC Chapel Hill.

After retiring in 1997, he became deeply engrossed in bird-watching and pursued that avocation in much of North America and in six Latin American countries. He made new and interesting friends and enjoyed hiking the trails at Givens Estates after moving there in 2014.

He was predeceased by his parents and by his sister, Elaine Chang. Survivors include his widow, Esther Gudger Booe Pardue, two sons and their partners, David Pardue and Jill Walters and Samuel Pardue and Tiare Sheller, all of Portland, OR; two grandsons and a step-grandson, Matthew and Eli Pardue and Neal Kuperman; two nephews, W. Gerald Chang and his daughters, Grace and Eleanor of Martinez, CA, and Gregory Chang and spouse Saidah Said and their sons, Raqeeb, Ghouran, and Hannan of Richmond, CA.

The family asks that expressions of sympathy take the form of gifts to the Mission Endowment Fund of First Presbyterian Church, Asheville, or to the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, which oversees a conservation easement on the Sandy Mush property.