Leak & Sons

CTL-E-5238 · Business · services · 1933–present

VERIFIED evidence grade of this record

Leak & Sons is a Black-owned, family-run funeral home business on Chicago's South Side, founded in 1933 by the Reverend A.R. Leak and his wife. The family's own history records that Leak first opened Unity Funeral Home in 1933, then established his own home at 44th and State Street; in 1959 the firm relocated to 78th and Cottage Grove, where its Chicago location stands today at 7838 S. Cottage Grove Avenue. Its founding promise — that every family, regardless of means, deserves to bury its loved ones with dignity — answered an era when Black Chicago families faced limited and unequal access to funeral services. Family and industry accounts also credit Rev. Leak with providing limousine service to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during his Chicago campaigns and with helping lead the protest that desegregated Oak Woods Cemetery. After A.R. Leak's death in 1993, leadership passed to Spencer Leak Sr. and then to a third generation; the firm now operates three Illinois locations, in Chicago, Country Club Hills, and Matteson.

The record

• Also known as: Leak & Sons Funeral Homes, Leak and Sons Funeral Homes, A.R. Leak Funeral Homes

Notes

STAGED 2026-10-15 (packet chicago-first). Type Business/services: a commercial funeral-services enterprise, not a membership or civic body — Organization was considered and rejected (see packet). Civil-rights details are carried as attributed family/industry accounts. DROPPED claims: the Sam Cooke 1964 service (single social-media source located) and the competing $500 startup-capital stories (family account vs. Black Enterprise differ on the money's source; neither version is asserted). Founder Rev. A.R. Leak is NOT minted in this packet; a founded_by edge awaits his own Person record (future branch).

Relationships

• Chatham — located in
  The firm's Chicago home stands at 7838 S. Cottage Grove Avenue (the firm's own listing), in the Chatham community area; it relocated to 78th and Cottage Grove in 1959 per the family's published history.

Sources

• Black Enterprise, 2026-06-01 — 'Spencer Leak Jr., 3rd-Generation Leader of Chicago's Leak & Sons Funeral Homes, Dies at 56' (founded 1933 by A.R. Leak; three locations) (blackenterprise.com/spencer-leak-jr-chicago-funeral-home-dies/)
• Leak & Sons Funeral Homes — the firm's published family history (1933 Unity Funeral Home; 44th & State; 1959 relocation to 78th & Cottage Grove; A.R. Leak d. 1993) (leakandsonsfuneralhomes.com) (primary source)
• Revelence, 2026-05-31 — Spencer Leak Jr. obituary (Rev. A.R. Leak founded the home in 1933; King limousine service; Oak Woods Cemetery desegregation march) (revelence.com)

Record CTL-E-5238 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · evidence grade: VERIFIED · 3 sources (1 primary) · 1 mapped relationship · CTL research: PPL-001.
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