John Leslie was a seasonal resident of Lake McWain for over forty years. John and his wife, Susan, were first introduced to Lake McWain and Waterford by John’s brother and sister-in-law, Peter and Kay Leslie. Beginning in 1964, they became regular visitors to Waterford. In 1980, John and Susan bought their own place on Lake McWain, and John took great joy in spending time on the lake until his death in 2020 at 87.
Susan, their three sons, Michael, John, and Bill, and their families continue to enjoy life on the lake, mainly when the boys’ Aunt Kay and their cousins, Martha Leslie Long 
and Patrick Leslie, and their families are around.
John was born in Coral Gables, Florida, in 1933 and grew up in San Francisco, California, and Scarsdale, New York. John and Susan would later return to Scarsdale to raise their family. After graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1952 and Princeton University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1956, John proudly served in the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of Captain.
Upon leaving the Army, John joined the Minuteman missile project team at the Hercules Powder Company and helped design the fuel for the missile’s third stage. John attended Columbia Business School, graduating with an MBA in 1961. After business school, he went to work for Standard Oil of New Jersey/ESSO, first in New York City and then in Tokyo, Japan. John left ESSO in 1968 to join the newly formed Penntech Papers as Treasurer and served as its President and Chief Executive Officer until his retirement in 1991.
In retirement, John and Susan relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where they enjoyed eighteen years of adventures while still spending every summer and fall in Waterford. In 2010, they moved back to the East Coast to be near family, settling in Exeter, New Hampshire. John was an avid fisherman, hunter, golfer, and sailor, enjoying outdoor activities his entire life.
