Pomerance, Leon.

Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1907, Leon Pomerance was a first generation American. His father founded Forest Paper Company in 1918 and worked to establish it as a successful business. The business would support Pomerance through his adulthood and enable his collecting of artifacts. Pomerance attended New York University where he received a law degree in 1929. During his time in law school, and for a short time after, Pomerance worked for the ACLU. He married in 1936. After his work in law, Pomerance continued with the Forest Paper Company and took on leadership after his father's death in 1945.

Pomerance did a considerable amount of traveling, and one particular trip to Mexico in 1928 ignited his interest in archaeology. Pomerance would accumulate an impressive collection of artifacts, which would eventually be on exhibit in the Brooklyn Museum of Art in 1966. Pomerance served on the Board of Trustees for the American Archaeological Association (AIA) and was president of the New York Society from 1969-1971. Leon Pomerance established the Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement and the Harriet Pomerance Fellowship in Archaeology in honor of his wife who passed in 1972.

One of Pomerance's most important contributions to the field of archaeology was a grant to aid the Greek Archaeological Society. From 1962 until 1972, Pomerance, along with his wife, aided in the excavation of the palace at Kato Zakro which was made possible by his grant. An award to be given with the Harriet Pomerance Fellowship, the Leon Pomerance Fellowship, was named in his honor by the AIA after his death in 1988.

From the guide to the Leon Pomerance Papers, 1941-1983, (Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida)