If you have ever come to an opening at the Solowey Studio there is a good chance you saw my dad, Marx S (Sandy) Leopold. For the first fifteen years you could have missed him as he was dressed like everyone else. But after he started to make annual visits with me and my two brothers to New Orleans for the Jazz and Heritage Festival, known by almost everyone as “Jazzfest,” he almost always wore one of his Hawaiian styled Jazzfest shirts. In the early days he helped my mother bring her many baked goods as well as directing traffic in and out of our parking area, but soon he simply enjoyed the company of the many family members attending whether in the studio or down at the house. We would often go out to dinner after the opening, and he reveled in being surrounded at the table by his offspring and their offspring. An only child, he was now the patriarch of a 26-member clan.
Sandy, 87, of Malvern, Pennsylvania, passed away peacefully on April 1, 2026. Born on December 2, 1938, in Philadelphia, Sandy lived a rich and meaningful life marked by intellect, humor, generosity, and a deep love of family.
A graduate of Cheltenham High School, Dickinson College, and Dickinson Law School, Sandy built a distinguished career in public service. He served as Assistant Attorney General and General Counsel for the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, and worked closely with state government leaders, including as a Senior Budget Analyst for the Pennsylvania State Senate. He was proud of the late nights spent helping negotiate state budgets and getting the language “exactly right.” He was an expert at the legislative process and used it to advance goals that made a difference in people’s lives. He also served or supported the work of several important institutions and boards, including the Academy of Vocal Arts, the Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS), the Milton B. Asbell Center for Jewish Life at Dickinson College, and the Drexel President’s Leadership Council and College of Medicine.
He was kind, witty, and wise. He loved to tease, had a hearty laugh, and could command a room simply by raising a finger, lowering his glasses, and saying, “Now let me tell you something….” He loved jazz, baseball, history, economics, his Wall Street Journal, vintage Matchbox cars, Joanie’s sticky buns, long walks with Mia, and his annual trips to the Jazz Fest with his three sons.
Above all, Sandy believed in family. He thought people should sit down together, share a meal, work things out, and enjoy one another. He lived with ethics, integrity, and gratitude, always trying to make the most of the life he had been given.
Sandy was the beloved husband of the late Joan Yaverbaum Leopold, whom he met as a teenager. They attended Dickinson College together and shared 44 years of marriage. In later years, he found companionship and adventure with his partner, Mia Marcovici, with whom he traveled the world from 2006 to 2024.
He was predeceased by his parents, Marshall and Hermine (Berg) Leopold; sister, Ann Leopold; wife, Joan Yaverbaum Leopold; partner Mia Marcovici; and daughter, Ann Kaplan (Larry) He is survived by his children Matt (Catherine), John (Teresa), David (Laura), & Debbie Stern (Jonathan) and sister-in-law, Jeri Yaverbaum Greenberg (Eddie). He was a proud grandfather to Danielle, Sarah, Rose, George, Mia, Jeremy, Anastasia, Emma, Abigail, Ilana, Henry, Daphne, and a loving great-grandfather to Axel and Wesley.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Dauphin County Library System’s Joan Y. Leopold Children’s Book Week Endowment Fund (https://tinyurl.com/DCLSJYL ) or to Beth El Temple in Harrisburg, PA.
