LEONARD M. GONCHAR

Leonard Gonchar died Wednesday, May 25, 2016 at his home in Kingston, Pa., at the age of 80 from cancer.

Born April 7, 1936 in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., he was the son of the late Isadore and Margaret Rosenheim Gonchar. Leonard grew up in the Wyoming Valley, graduated from Kingston High School, and served in the Pennsylvania National Guard. An alumnus of Franklin and Marshall College, Leonard, with his older brother, Howard, owned Carter Footwear, a shoe manufacturing company based in Wilkes-Barre. The company also had factories in Mocanaqua, Pa., Georgia, West Virginia, and the Dominican Republic, and at its peak it employed over 2,000 employees. Leonard's success as executive in charge of sales resulted from the warmth, empathy, fairness and honesty he always extended in his relationships, whether personal or business. Those who dealt with Leonard knew him as someone who was loyal, selfless and generous. Quite simply, as a friend said, he was a "mensch."

Leonard had been an active member of the Wyoming Valley Jewish community. In addition to having served as a board member for the Jewish Community Center and Temple Israel school, he also served as the chairman of the local United Jewish Appeal.

Leonard is survived by his wife, Lynn Gonchar, and his daughter, Ilizabeth Hempstead, and her sons, Augustus and Isaac, of Maplewood, N.J., and his son, Michael Gonchar, and his wife, Allison Kwait, and their son, Benjamin, of Brooklyn, N.Y. He is also survived by his brother, Howard, and his wife, Jean Gonchar, of Kingston, and his sister, Sandra Herschenfeld, of Wilkes-Barre. His immediate family also includes Barbara and Charles Shaffer, of Kingston, Ronne Kurlancheek and Joel Zitofsky, of Wilkes-Barre, Paul Kurlancheek, of Jupiter, Fla, and Mary Lou Spina, of Idetown.

He was predeceased by his father, Isadore Gonchar, his mother, Margaret Rosenheim Gonchar, and his son-in-law, Thomas Hempstead.

The funeral service will be conducted at the Rosenberg Funeral Chapel, 348 S. River St., Wilkes-Barre, on Sunday, May 29, 2016, at 12 p.m. Burial will be in Temple Israel Cemetery, Swoyersville.

Shiva will be observed Sunday from 7 to 9 p.m. and Monday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at the family home, 643 Ford Ave., Kingston.

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