Leo Drey

Who is Leo Drey?

Leo A. Drey, is a Missouri timber magnate, conservationist, and philanthropist.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, to a wealthy manufacturer of glassware, Drey began acquiring timberland in the Missouri Ozarks for reforestation and conservation in 1950. His holdings, much acquired for the price of back taxes, eventually grew to nearly 160,000 acres, the largest private landholding in the state and larger than Missouri's entire state park system. The project, known as Pioneer Forest, is a commercial forest managed in the public interest, with single tree selection harvesting techniques.

Drey founded the L-A-D Foundation, which acquires and protects other natural areas in the state, leasing many of them to the state park system at $1 per year.

In 2005, Drey was placed at No. 6 on Slate magazine's annual list of the top 60 U.S. philanthropists, thanks to his gift of 146,000 acres of Ozark land, valued at $180 million, to the L-A-D Foundation.