Gregory Knox Leiser of Knights Landing, CA, a farmer in the Sutter Basin, died Feb. 9, at the age of 70 years old.
Greg was born in Woodland, to Phil and Marietta Gillam Leiser.
Greg was very active with the Boy Scouts. He received his God and Country Award at the age of 13 and became an Eagle Scout at the age of 15. He also attended many Boy Scout Jamborees throughout the country. Greg graduated from Woodland High School in 1966, and he spent the summer of his junior year in Finland as an American Foreign Exchange Student. While attending the University of California at Davis, he spent his summers as a boatman guide for the Wilderness Expeditioners in the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River and all the other great rivers of the West. He was a daredevil on skis and in 1967 performed his famous Kangaroo Jump at Sugar Bowl by doing a backflip on skis. He was an avid photographer and an active member of the Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity. He graduated from UC Davis with a degree in Ag Science and Management, and Renewable Natural Resources.
After graduation he returned to work on the family farm. In 1972, Greg met Mary MacLeod, who came from Boston to work in California, and they were married in 1973. By 1973 he had taken over the family farming operation, incorporating as Greg Leiser Farms. In 1981 they moved to Knights Landing from Davis, with their young son, Peter. Greg was past director of the California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation; past director of the California Gourd Society; long time member of the Sutter Basin Growers Co-Op, and member of the Yuba-Sutter Farm Bureau. Known for his innovative approach to farming and his willingness to experiment with new techniques, he won the California Jaycee's Outstanding Young Farmer Award, Top Farmers of America Association Award, an award from the California Gourd Society.
Family time included camping in Baja CA, Oregon, and the family land in Idaho. In the late 1960's between river trips on the Snake River, Salmon River and Colorado River he built a Finnish style sauna on the land in Idaho that is still standing. Greg also enjoyed family ski trips to the Sierras and windsurfing with his son Peter, with whom he would windsurf around Northern California, Oregon and Idaho. In addition to growing rice, wheat, corn, pumpkins and sweet corn, he took particular delight in growing 25 acres of hard shell gourds. The farm became a destination for gourd artists and musicians from all over the continental United States, Hawaii and Canada. Greg and Mary started an annual Gourd Art Festival that was attended by artists, musicians, vendors and collectors from all over the United States, Europe, and Asia.
Greg is survived by his wife and partner, Mary MacLeod Leiser, with whom he celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary on July 15, 2018. He is also survived by their son, Peter Leiser, his wife, Janice Parmar, and grandson, Killian. His brothers-in-law include, Jimmy, David, Charlie, and Peter MacLeod, and Cap Thomson; sisters-in-law, Helen MacLeod Thomson, Audrey MacLeod Pfeiffer, Camilla MacPhee; cousins, Clairelee Leiser Bulkley (WHS), Malcolm Leiser (WHS) and Melilnda Leiser (WHS 1962), and two dozen nieces and nephews. Greg was predeceased by his parents; brother, Fred (WHS), and his sister, Pam Stockton (WHS 1964).
The family would like to express their gratitude for the outstanding care he received from Sutter Health, Sutter Home Health and Hospice, and Carlton Senior Plaza Memory Care in Davis. Donations in his memory can be made in Greg's name to the Knights Landing Community United Methodist Church Building Fund.
A Celebration of Life will be held on March 23, at 11 a.m., at the Knights Landing Community United Methodist Church, 9493 Mill St., Knights Landing.
Published in Daily Democrat from Mar. 17 to Mar. 23, 2019
