LeBaron Willard
Before becoming involved in historic preservation, LeBaron S. Willard Jr. (1909-1964) was born and raised in New York City. He recieved his bachelor's degree from Harvard College, where he was a member of the Fly Club, served in the U.S. Navy, and wintered in Palm Beach.
In the late 1970s, Willard served as the first chairman of the Landmarks Preservation Commission after Philip Hulitar stepped down. During his tenure, he advocated for designating historic districts rather than appointing single landmarks. Willard concluded that the individual designation protocol had produced a relatively weak result, and stated “the time has come to move from a one-at-a-time designation process to a comprehensive grasp of the main objective of all of us, the preservation of all of Palm Beach as an entity.” The proposal did achieve success, but not without some failure. The Phipps Plaza Historic District was designated in 1982, while the Worth Avenue Historic District was defeated in 1983.
Willard believed the formation of an organization with the sole purpose to preserve the architectural heritage of the Town was necessary. In 1979, Willard, along with Bob Rogers, Robert Grace, and John VanRyan formed the Preservation Society of Palm Beach (later the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach). Willard served as the first president of the Foundation and became the bridge between the Foundation’s advocacy efforts and the Town of Palm Beach. Additionally, he served on board for the Good Samaritan Hospital and as the vice president of the Society of Four Arts.
