Leslie T. McIntyre Jr.

Leslie T. McIntyre, Jr., 93, of Pine Bluff, Ark., died Dec. 29, 2016. Born Aug. 23, 1923 to Leslie Turner and Ruth Couch McIntyre in Pine Bluff, he attended local schools, graduating from Pine Bluff High School in 1942. Leslie played running back for the PBHS Zebra football team and was on the 1939 Zebra National High School Championship Team. After attending one year at Hendrix College, he worked at the Pine Bluff Arsenal during WWII. In 1944 Mr. McIntyre and two partners bought the Eden Park Natatorium Club which became Eden Park Country Club. Leslie bought out his partners and ran Eden Park for over 60 years before selling in 2004. In addition to Eden Park, Leslie ran the Leslie T. McIntyre, Jr. Construction Company for many years. In 1973 he formed Cool Cap Courts that resurfaced and built tennis courts across Arkansas. A gifted athlete, Leslie took up tennis at about age 40 and excelled. He avidly promoted the sport of tennis and built at Eden Park one of the first indoor tennis courts in the South. Table tennis became a passion of his. A charter member of The Peking China Ping Pong Club, he won with John Smithey at age 71 second place in the Arkansas Closed State Table Tennis Championship. Leslie was preceded in death by his parents and his first wife, MaryBeth S. McIntyre. Survivors include his children, Stephen McIntyre (Maumelle, Ark.), Leland McIntyre (Pine Bluff), Meddie M. DeTore (Gregg) (White Hall); granddaughter Leslie C. DeTore (Houston, Texas); second wife, Patricia Camp McIntyre (Hot Springs, Ark.); sister, Ruth M. Waller (Birmingham, Ala.) along with nieces and a nephew, numerous cousins and great-nieces and great-nephews. Services are Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017, 2 p.m., Ralph Robinson & Son Chapel, with the Reverend Van Windsor officiating. Interment follows in Graceland Cemetery. Visitation is Wednesday, 12:30-1:45 p.m. at Robinson's. Memorials requested to the donor's favorite charity. Online condolences: www.ralphrobinsonandson.com.