RUSSELL M. LEIMAN
26 Oct 1947 – 30 June 2025
Russell Leiman passed away peacefully on 30 June, 2025, at home in Durham, NC, USA, after years of unremitting pain. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, he was the elder son of Edith (nee Rosenberg) and Dr. Norman Leiman.
After school he landed the coveted position of assistant to an internationally recognized commercial photographer. Travel abroad introduced him to the world beyond the injustice of the Apartheid system in which he grew up, an experience that profoundly changed the trajectory of his life.
In 1971 he began building a career in finance with Vickers da Costa, a member firm of the London Stock Exchange. He was engaged in equity arbitrage trading between markets in London, Hong Kong, Tokyo and New York. In 1973 he married Ashley Chesler, a young widow with two daughters who soon became his own: Samantha, age 3½ and Vanessa, 18 months.
In 1974, Vickers da Costa posted him to the Far East where financial markets were just beginning to open to foreign investment. He first settled in Hong Kong (1974—77) where he formed special bonds with locals and soaked up the Asian culture that was to be a significant part of his life. In Tokyo (1977—1985) he was the first foreign Tokyo-based Japanese equity trader. Wining and dining industry execs on the company’s dime introduced him to the joys of fine wine. Russell was the cantor in both Hong Kong and Tokyo synagogues where, along with a newly ordained Rabbi from PA, he conducted Sabbath and High Holiday services.
In 1983 he was accepted as a Member of the London Stock Exchange and in 1985, appointed President and CEO of Vickers da Costa Securities, Inc. in New York. (He held a grudge against the Big Apple for the rest of his life because no matter the time of day, whenever he tried to hail a taxi he was told it was “shift change”. Most especially when it was raining!) In 1988 he became Managing Director of Credit Lyonnais Securities in London.
Seven years later he accepted an invitation to build a company within Peregrine Investment Holdings, a boutique investment bank in Hong Kong, to introduce financial derivatives to emerging markets in Asia. It was an especially great gig because the firm owned a luxurious yacht, on which he could peregrinate ;-} on leisurely weekends.
At age 50, Russell decided it was time to leave the glitter and material superficiality of the financial world and do something meaningful with his life. He hoped to use his investment expertise to leverage funds raised to support environmental conservation. It wasn’t long before his budding venture came to the attention of The Nature Conservancy, who recruited him to grow their then-embryonic Asia-Pacific Region into the vast division it now is.
Russell often spoke of the immeasurable good fortune of his extraordinarily rich and fulfilling life. He could entertain a dinner party for hours with exotic and colorful adventures. Some crowd-pleasing topics: He …
- tracked silverback gorillas in Rwanda with Ian Redmond;
- hosted a Nature Conservancy Asia-Pacific Council meeting in the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square in Beijing;
- was led on foot by Ian Douglas Hamilton to get as close as safely possible to a herd of elephants, in Amboseli National Park in Kenya.
In 2001, he was introduced to Elaine Taylor, a Bay Area tech headhunter whose Texas charm he could not resist. In 2006 they married, moved to a mountaintop in a redwood forest in Los Gatos, CA, and immediately offered a forever home to Bentley and Beemer, a bonded pair of traumatized Weimaraners. (Excellent company for Elaine, and always ecstatic at Russell’s return from lengthy Asian expeditions because he could match their energy on explorations of their mountain woods.)
One of Russell’s greatest annual delights was hosting four young, international granddaughters for summer adventures (like surfing and horse camp) in the Bay Area. They frolicked in the pool, manicured Russell with a different color on each nail, gave him spa treatments that included cucumbers on eyelids, strawberries on nipples (go figure!) and goopy foot massages. And delighted him nightly with “dinner parties” for which they planned and executed menus, crafted elaborate table decorations, and devised creative entertainment.
Separately, Russell and Elaine immensely enjoyed hosting Russell’s Asia Pacific management team for multi-day planning retreats where a dozen or more senior managers, including world-renowned scientists, brainstormed strategies “to save lands and waters on Earth” … and share the three-and-a-half onsite bathrooms.
When Russell retired from the Conservancy in 2012, Russell, Elaine and “the kids” relocated to Durham, NC where he loved to tool around in his Duke-blue 1963 Jaguar Mark II. And where they hosted classical music dinner concerts and other memorable events at their home for a circle of wonderful friends. Russell attended continuing education courses at OLLI at Duke University and, as he was fond of saying, he must have shot off his mouth once too often because fellow lecturers and classmates coerced him into lecturing on a range of topics, from climate change to geopolitics.
In 2019, at the end of a spectacular game-watching safari in Zimbabwe, Russell and Elaine visited Cape Town where they spontaneously purchased a tear-down structure on a bluff 30 feet above the coastline of False Bay, in the marine protected area where “My Octopus Teacher” was filmed. There they built Seacluse. They were thrilled and enchanted to watch the antics of pods of dolphins in the aquamarine inlet mere yards below the back deck; and to spot mama whales teaching their calves to breech; and seabirds dive-bombing for fish in the bay beyond.
Russell’s absence will be felt by friends and associates around the world. But most acutely by Elaine, the love of his life, and he of hers. And by cherished daughters, Samantha (Francois) and Vanessa (Peter). And by much adored grandchildren: Halie, Esmé, Java, Cléa, Hannah, and Samuel. And by his younger brother, Darryll; loving sister-in-law, Michelle; and master-baker-nephew, Ilan. Russell was preceded in death by his sister, Gladwyn Leiman, M.D., an internationally renowned cytopathologist.
The cycle of life is relentless. We come. We pass. Our lifetimes are meaningful in different ways. Russell’s contributions will long continue to serve the world he has left behind.
At Russell’s request there will be no funeral. Ashes will be scattered by family. A memorial service will be scheduled for autumn.
For those so inclined, donations in Russell’s memory can be made to:
Coral Triangle Center, https://www.coraltrianglecenter.org
Final Exit Network, https://finalexitnetwork.org
Save the Elephants, https://savetheelephants.org