Marsh, Leo B.

Leo Bergman Marsh was born in Camden, Alabama in 1903. He graduated from Knoxville College in 1928 and later did graduate work at the University of Chicago, Ohio State College, Columbia University, and George Williams College. While in college at Knoxville, he met and eventually married his wife Bessie. The couple and their two daughters, Frances and Gayle, settled in Montclair, New Jersey.

Marsh began his YMCA career in 1928 in Detroit, where he served as assistant youth work secretary, transferring to the same position in Chicago in 1929. From 1930 to 1945 he was the director of two branch YMCAs, first in Toledo, Ohio and then in Columbus, Ohio. In 1945 he became associate executive secretary of the Atlantic Area, a position which he held until 1948. Marsh joined the National Board as director of Interracial and Counseling Services in 1948. While with the Board, he was U.S. delegate to the 1952 World Conference of Christian Youth in India and a delegate to the 1945 World Council of YMCAs in Japan. In 1954 he had the distinction of becoming the first black president of the Y's National Association of Secretaries (AOS).

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