Under the baobab: Anthony Leach was a Penn State pioneer, national treasure

“ … Jesus took his own hand and wiped away his tears,

And he smoothed the furrows from his face,

And the angels sang a little song,

And Jesus rocked him in his arms,

And kept a-saying: ‘Take your rest,

Take your rest, take your rest,’

Weep not — weep not, He is not dead;

He is resting in the bosom of Jesus.” —James Weldon Johnson, “God’s Trombones”

Dr. Anthony Leach has joined the saints and ancestors. He was 73 and succumbed to cancer on Wednesday. Tony was a Penn State pioneer and an international luminary.

He was the second Penn State University Laureate, appointed in 2009. He was a Lions Paw honoree, received the PSU President’s Award for Engagement with Students, the Forum on Black Affairs Humanitarian Award and other awards and honors too numerous to list.

A professor emeritus from the School of Music, Tony created Essence of Joy and Essence 2, which specialize in spiritual and secular African American music. Most interesting was that over the years the vast majority of singers in the two choirs have not been people of color. He first formed Essence in response to a request for music performance for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Banquet in 1991. Since then, his choirs have performed at festivals throughout the United States and Canada as well as tours of England, Scotland, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Spain, France, Germany, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Japan, St. Thomas/U.S. Virgin Islands and South Africa.

Like many others, I loved Tony. He was my friend, colleague and inspiration. We first met when I joined Penn State’s theatre faculty in 1995. He was to join the Music Theatre faculty in 1996 after finishing his graduate studies. In our respective departments in the College of Arts and Architecture for many years we were the only faculty members of color. Were it not for the counsel of Tony and Grace Hampton, the former head of Visual Arts, I could not have survived those early years in Happy Valley.

We collaborated on many projects. Most notably in the fall of 1995, we produced “God’s Trombones” by James Weldon Johnson at the old Paul Robeson Center, directed by Larry Young. It was one of the first theatrical pieces written by an African American produced at Penn State. It featured grad students Carla Hargrove, Cynthia Henderson, Keegan Michael Key, Alessandra Paloschi, Greg Valmont Thomas, and BFA student Carlton Currington. From Essence, Oriyanna V.Lineberger and Jason LaMar Yates presented solos. Vice Provost Jim Stewart invited us to present highlights from “God’s Trombones” at the MLK birthday production at Eisenhower Auditorium later the following year.

Over the years we presented “God’s Trombones” at various venues including the national board meeting of the NAACP. We were invited by their board chair Julian Bond. We regularly performed at the James Weldon Johnson Awards at the Schomburg Library and Center for African American Studies in New York with Harry Belafonte, Bobby Short, and Wynton Marsalis. We also performed at Riverside Church, and locally, recently at the Church of the Good Shepherd.

Anthony Leach was a national treasure. We are blessed that he chose to share his grace and gifts in our community. He was the wind beneath the wings of hundreds of students. He fine-tuned the voices of a thousand more.

Tony, we miss you too much already.

President Jimmy Carter’s last gift to our country was to create a funeral which gathered together the elected and appointed political leaders of our country including our past, present and future presidents and vice presidents. Remembrances were presented by folks from both sides of the aisle. For a wonderful moment we merged into one country to celebrate sending our national hero off to Valhalla or rather Plains. Rest in peace Mr. President, on your watch you helped us to secure it.