Fernando "Paco" Leon

Fernando Leon (1919-2009) was an engineer. Before immigrating to the United States, he and his brother Francisco “Paco” Leon fought with the resistance in Spain in the Spanish Civil War. Francisco, who died from tuberculosis which he contracted in the war, also enrolled at Black Mountain College (BMC). Leon received his B.S. in engineering from Columbia University and his Master of Automotive Engineering from the Chrysler Institute. He worked at Chrysler on development of the XIV-2220 aircraft engine and was a founder of FOREL Equipment Co. in New York City, an exporter of steelmaking and metalworking equipment which helped set up industrial plants in Latin America and Europe under the Marshall Plan. Later he founded Om-El Corporation in Bay City, Michigan, with similar activities as FOREL. Leon was a trustee for Marlboro College in Vermont where Roland Boyden, a former BMC teacher, served in many roles. Leon was married to BMC student Eleanor “Elie” Smith Leon.

Biography written by Mary Emma Harris for the Black Mountain College Project.

Relationships

Brother: Robert Leon

Wife: Fellow BMC student, Eleanore Smith

Asheville Art Museum Collection

Writings about Fernando can be seen in digitized college bulletins on Asheville Art Museum's collection website: collection.ashevilleart.org. They can be found by searching these accession numbers:

2017.40.024 September 1943 bulletin,

"Fernando Leon will be graduated in October from Columbia University. He will receive the degree of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering."

2017.40.155 May 15, 1944 bulletin,

"Fernando Leon writes from Highland Park, Michigan: “It can be argued that former students should not try to influence the present state of the College, for thus the College will lose its progressive nature. It would be so were it not that most of your former students now were forced to leave before being able to contribute their share to the development of the college; and a good number of these students do plan to come back some day, hence are in the same way entitled to participate in the present internal problems and decisions."

Black Mountain College Project

Mary Emma Harris interviewed Fernando in 2005 and the transcript is available from Appalachian State University under The Mary Emma Harris and Black Mountain College Project, Inc. Oral History collection.

Topics: Immigration to the United States – enlistment in US Navy – BMC curriculum and faculty – family background in Morocco and Spain and childhood – education in Spain and travel to Russia– Morocco – fighting in Spanish Civil War and internment in French concentration camp – post-BMC professional career – Instituto Escuela in Madrid – father’s work in United States – attitude toward England and United States as a child in Spain – teaching Albers