Imperial Sir Lawrence J. "Larry" Leib

Imperial Sir Larry Leib, Imperial Potentate:

I was born and raised in Detroit, went to school here. Third generation attorney. My grandfather's on both sides. My mother's father was a probate judge and my father's father was a prominent lawyer here in town. Our focus has always been on trial work and litigation. I have two wonderful parents, Brian and Jeff Lieb. My dad's a semi-retired attorney. My mom is a retired educator. I have two sisters, Jamie Kirschner and Jody Coden.

[Bottom third: Bryna & Jeffrey Leib, Larry's Parents]

Bryna Leib:

Larry was always a kind child and he was always willing to be involved in things. He liked to be in the center of everything that was going on.

Imperial Sir Larry Leib:

People asked me, "What did you want to do when you were growing up?" I always wanted to be either a fireman or a milkman. And then as I got a little older and I played sports, I wanted to be a middle school gym teacher. My dad said, "You can do that right after you graduate from law school." It was the family business. It was a tradition in our family. And so I went right to law school right after college.

Jeffrey Leib:

Larry never, ever, never brought a friend to our house that we didn't like and they're still his friends to this day.

Imperial Sir Larry Leib:

I ended up going to Michigan State University where I graduated in 1990 with a degree in economics. While I was there, I had an opportunity to intern in Washington, D.C. at the White House and at the Heritage Foundation. Worked with President Reagan. And after graduating from college, I went on to law school here in Detroit at the University of Detroit. I'm

Jeffrey Leib:

Very proud of him, obviously. The fact that he chose to become a lawyer was a compliment to me and our upbringing of Larry and his sisters.

Bryna Leib:

He excelled in following his father's example and frankly his grandfather's example of volunteering in the community, being involved in projects that were philanthropic as well as service related. We saw it in high school certainly. And then as he went into college, it became fraternity. Again, president, he liked to be in charge and ultimately was. But he put in the time and the effort to do the groundwork and always completed projects that he said he would do. There was an honest commitment to excelling and being involved.

Imperial Sir Larry Leib:

Family's the ultimate to me. I've always been close to my parents. I was close to my grandparents. I try to call my kids every day because I think the family unit, when all else fails, you have family, two great kids. And my daughter Caitlin was born in 2002. My son was born Jenner, was born in 2004.

Jeff Geske, Larry's Director General, Oriental Guide, and Good Friend:

Larry's extremely proud of his kids. Every time I see him, he has a story to tell about one of his kids. His Facebook posts, their Facebook posts, all the social media and stuff revolve around family. And I think he's done an exceptionally good job on raising them.

Imperial Sir Larry Leib:

I've been involved with the Shrine most of my adult life now. I became a Shriner in 1999, 2000. And now 26 years later, I look back on that experience and I think, how would my life be different without it? And it's made me a better person. It's made me a better business person, made me a better community person. And frankly, it's made me a better dad. I often tell people I became a Mason and a Shriner by accident. My dad and I worked together for 33 years. And one day we got a phone call and Dad said, "Why don't you take that call?" And I said, "Okay." So I called the Shriners and they said, "We're looking for somebody to look at a contract. Are you an attorney?" I said, "Yeah." They said, "When can you meet with us?" I said, "No time like the present." And I ended up driving to downtown Detroit, met with the potentate and the recorder in the recorder's office.

And I wasn't there five minutes and they said, "How come you're not a Shriner?" They said, "What night's good for you Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday?" And I said, "Wednesday." They said, "Okay, hold on a minute." And the recorder picked up the phone and he called the Secretary of Zion Lodge and he said, "Get down here. We have a live one." And I remember that like it was last week. And the secretary walks in, he says, "Sign this paper." So I go through the traditional process about a month later after my entering apprentice degree, I came to light and looked around the room and all my grandfather's buddies who were still alive were there that day. And I thought, this is pretty cool.

One weekend I was taking my kids out to breakfast and we were sitting in a restaurant. This gentleman walked directly towards us with his daughter. And I was wearing a Shrine shirt and he stopped and he looked at his daughter and he said, "If you ever see a man with a Shrine shirt on, thank him because I wouldn't be walking without them." And all of a sudden my kids looked at me and they said, "Dad, we get it. " So I think a great leader means you're a great listener first. As somebody who's in this role, you have to encourage people to grow and prosper. I think being a good listener, being a good advocate and being strong in supporting our staff and what they do, we're so fortunate. We have probably the best staff that any hospital could possibly have.

Tim Lancaster, One of Larry's Closest Friends, Past Potentate, and Chief Aide:

I met Larry about 25 years ago and our relationship sort of evolved. We were in similar clubs, but he asked me to be his chief aide. So I obliged myself to that while he was a potentate. He has the passion and he has the compassion to be able to sort things out, look at what might be needed. Maybe there's a void there. And he's got his creative juices just start to flourish. And so I think the leadership will really benefit by it. He will make his mark and continue to do so.

Debbie Binder, First Lady:

His ability to connect with people who can make things happen is remarkable and he does know who to call upon when he needs to get something done. He also is a very good friend. He is a good friend to people and because he is a good friend to people, they support him in return. And I think that will bring a great mix for his role as Imperial Potentate because he will call on people and friends that he's made all over the country.

Charlie Ferguson, Past Potentate and Larry's Mentor:

Selling Larry's best qualities as a leader are the fact that he pays attention no matter the issue, whether it's large or small. Larry is going to take attention to it. His Masonic journey is far and wide. His leadership will be well remembered.

Imperial Sir Larry Leib:

Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth are the three pinnacles of masonry. And to me, they've always resonated with who I am. And so when I was thinking about my theme for the year between that and having the session in Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, I thought what a great opportunity to double dip. Leading by example has been my theme in life. I think the most important thing that we can do is to advocate for who we are. I think we need to be out there in the public square talking about our incredible legacy. When you look at the fact that we treat kids in 159 locations in 33 countries, we have 20 hospitals, dozens and dozens of clinics all over the world. I think we're leading by example and I think we really need to tell the world who we are. When I first came on the board, there was this reluctance to go to foreign countries.

Over the last decade, I think we've done an excellent job of expanding our outreach. I think our mission today is to treat more kids in more places. Now we go to Cyprus. We've just gone to Africa. We treat kids in South America. We treat kids in Europe. We have this incredible opportunity, I think, with our strong brand. People want to come to us because we are the best pediatric healthcare in the world.

Jeff Geske:

The issues and I believe that the Shrine needs to address as a whole is one is membership. Larry is really focused on getting each of the Grand Lodges to Tampa, to Philadelphia. The other one is fiduciary. Larry is focusing on budgets, making sure that everything that when the money's spent, it's spent properly. And if you look at the 2035 initiative, which Shriners are very well aware of, he's behind it 100%. I think Larry is going to be a good captain in the boat.

Imperial Sir Larry Leib:

To me, a Shriner needs to be honest. A Shriner needs to be an advocate. A Shriner needs to be a promoter. A Shriner needs to be a champion of working with kids. The future of Shriners is smiles on children's faces. I really want my legacy to be somebody who cared deeply about their community, somebody who gave and really somebody who has a great name and lived by example and proud of who I am.