In 1929, Luther Ely Smith, whom the National Park Service calls “the father of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial,” convened a group of civic worthies for lunch at the old Noonday Club downtown.
Later on, a fellow named Leo Drey joined the group. Drey, who died at home in University City on May 26 at the age of 98, would become a stalwart member of the group, and one of its most dynamic leaders.
Out of that convocation came enormous positive activity for the public weal. Florence Shinkle, a former writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and an ardent conservationist, was invited to come along at some point to join in the Wednesday discussions. She recalled that plans were laid at the table for saving Greer Spring, for saving open space all over the state.
“Leo was distinguished in a number of ways, but two stand out,” said Joseph Logan of the Wednesday luncheon group. “One in particular was in regard to forest management.” Drey’s approach was single-tree selection harvesting, which avoids clear cutting and embraces a model that produces uneven or all-aged growth. The other main distinction, Logan said, was his character – his generosity, which is legendary, along with his honesty, his good manners and kindness.
John Karel is president of the board of directors of the L-A-D Foundation, a conservation-centered foundation created by Drey in 1962. He said Drey’s forest management system is his legacy. It is a system, he said, that not only sustains the forests, but is productive in terms of yielding timber. Karel said Drey’s harvesting philosophy also helps to maintain the workforce of the forested area, maintains the integrity of the land and the quality and health of the watershed, and provides recreational opportunities.
Leo Albert Drey was born in St. Louis in 1917. He graduated from John Burroughs School and from Antioch College (Yellow Springs, Ohio). He began a career in business, but soon was drafted and served as an officer in the U.S. Army during World War II.
After his service, Drey returned to St. Louis and joined the old Wohl Shoe Co. in St. Louis as assistant to its treasurer.
Leonard Drey, the son of Drey, noted that his father in 1950 began to acquire and manage Ozark timberland. His purpose was to harvest timber conservatively – to regrow a forest while showing this could be done economically.
“By 1951, he owned 10,000 acres of badly cut-over land, and further purchases then included 12,000 acres purchased from a tie company. At one time he was the largest private landowner in the state,” Leonard Drey wrote in a tribute to his father.
“In 1953, Leo was advised by one of the men of the impending clear-cutting of a 90,000-acre tract owned by National Distillers, a whiskey distillery. This landholding earlier had been owned by the Pioneer Cooperage Co. and managed using a model that relied on single-tree selection. When National Distillers had purchased this land, it publicized its continuing commitment to conservative forestry methods.”
When Drey learned that National had begun to liquidate its white oak, he traveled to New York, eventually negotiating to acquire the land. He retained all of National Distiller’s foresters. Today, Pioneer Forest comprises 143,000 acres of land in Shannon, Reynolds, Dent, Texas, Carter and Ripley counties.
And in 2004, Drey and his wife, Kay, gave Pioneer Forest to the L-A-D Foundation. That year, it was the largest act of philanthropy in the nation.
Drey is survived by his wife, Kay; two daughters, Laura, of Durham, N.C., and Eleanor, of San Francisco; a son, Leonard, of New York City; and his grandson and namesake, Leo, also of San Francisco.
There will be no memorial service. The family requests that, in lieu of flowers that individuals send donations to a charity of their choice.
Edited for length and reprinted with permission from news.stlpublicradio.org.
