A Mysterious
Death
Everybody said Harvey Leach
was a nice guy.
So police were mystified when
Mr. Leach was found murdered
on March 17, 1974.
Mr. Leach, chairman of the
board of directors of Joshua
Doore Inc., a furniture retailing
chain, was discovered in the
trunk of his Lincoln Continental
in the parking lot of the Congress
Building in Southfield. His death
was caused by a heavy blow to
the right side of his neck.
"We have absolutely no clues,
no possible motive and no sus-
pects," a spokesman for the
Southfield Police said after the
incident.
Today, the case remains un-
band started a submarine sandwich shop
at Greenfield and Ten Mile roads. The
store did well until a strip of Greenfield
Road, including the area where the store
was located, closed six months for con-
struction.
After her divorce, Marilyn moved to
Royal Oak. Her apartment was filled
with porcelain figurines and posters and
a piano. She enjoyed all kinds of music,
from the Beatles to jazz to Broadway
tunes.
"She loved Broadway shows," Dr.
Levine says. "If there was a popular
Broadway musical, she had the record."
Ms. Gantz had returned to col-
lege and was "getting all As, even
in things she was intimidated by —
like math." She also worked doing
clerical jobs at several businesses,
and hoped to get into management.
When not working or studying,
Ms. Gantz enjoyed spending time
with her parents and entertaining.
"Everything had to be just right,"
Dr. Levine says. "You should have
seen my parents' 40th wedding an-
niversary; she went all out for that."
Overcoming her fear of strange
places, Ms. Gantz even traveled
alone to Costa Rica, "which for her
was quite brave. She made a lot of
friends there, including an older
couple who kind of 'adopted' her,"
her brother says. "She brought me
home a kite I still have."
Marilyn Gantz's only regret, she
told Dr. Levine not long before she
died, was that she never had chil-
dren.
Sept. 5, 1979, was an especially
hot day. Acquaintances reported
seeing Ms. Gantz, 36, in the morn-
ing, sitting in a lawn chair outside
her Royal Oak home. Hours later,
the killer entered her apartment
(police still don't know if he forced his way
in, or if Marilyn voluntarily opened the
door) and stabbed her to death.
Many of the most difficult responsibil-
ities afterward fell to Dr. Levine. He had
to identify her body. He dealt with emp-
tying the apartment of her furniture and
clothes and records.
Over time, he says, "I continue to think
of her, but the specifics are less clear. I
can't remember the day-to-day things.
"But the sound of her voice — that I will
never forget. If she called me today, I
would immediately know it was Mari-
lyn."
❑
PHOTO BY THE DETROIT FREE PRESS
ties as a child was playing piano,
though she hated to practice.
The big family vacation was an an-
nual trip to Escanaba (it took two days
When it was time for her little brother just to drive there), where an uncle
to come home, 10-year-old Marilyn Levine and aunt lived. "They had a farm
would sit on the porch at the family home where we picked apples and played
on Buena Vista Street and wait. If it got baseball," Dr. Levine says. "Other-
to be dark and he still wasn't home, she wise, there wasn't a whole lot to do."
While living on Buena Vista, Mar-
began to cry. There was no one in the
ilyn experienced the first of two trou-
world she loved like Donald.
As adults, Marilyn Gantz and Donald bling experiences. She was about 8
Levine remained close. No one was more years old when a man grabbed her.
excited than Marilyn when Don excelled She managed to escape, but it took
in athletics, then entered law school, and years before she got over the attack.
Later, the family settled in South-
finally became a physician.
For Donald, the best news in the world field, where another curious encounter
was that, in her mid-30s, his sister was occurred. Marilyn was baby sitting for
about to start a new life. She had gone neighbors when a man, who appar-
through a divorce and had a failed busi- ently had been hiding in the base-
ness, but now she was returning to school. ment, dashed upstairs. Marilyn
For the first time in many years, Marilyn managed to fight him off, yet the in-
cident "left her extraordinarily afraid
was feeling confident.
Then on Sept. 5, 1979, Marilyn Gantz of being alone for a very long time,"
was found murdered in her Royal Oak Dr. Levine says. "She always had
apartment. The case has never been locks all over her door."
Marilyn dropped out of Michigan
solved.
Donald Levine, today professor of med- State University to marry her high-
icine at Wayne State University and chief school sweetheart. She and her hus-
of infectious diseases at Detroit Re-
ceiving Hospital, remembers his sis-
ter as someone who loved music,
being with friends and entertaining
— but not science.
As a student at Southfield High
School, "she didn't like chemistry
and she didn't like math," Dr.
Levine says.
Marilyn Levine Gantz was born
Oct. 8, 1942, in Detroit. She had one
brother, Donald, two-and-one-half
years her junior. For many years,
the family lived on Buena Vista
Street, between Linwood and Above right: Marilyn Gantz: Her greatest regret was never `
LaSalle.
having children.
One of Marilyn's favorite activi- Above:The Royal Oak apartment where she was killed.
Remembering
Marilyn
vance, with Robinson Furniture morning. His car was locked
solved.
and the keys were gone.
Mr. Leach, who was 34 at the becoming the subsidiary.
Yet Joshua Doore's financial There was no murder
time of his death, is buried in
Memorial Park South at Mach- status was questionable at the weapon.
Police believe the killer
time of Mr. Leach's death. ADe-
pelah.
Harvey Leach was born May troit News article about the case met up with Mr. Leach soon
18, 1939, in Detroit and lived on notes that profits had dropped after 9:45 a.m. Saturday,
North Park Drive in Southfield dramatically — 44 percent — in when he left his fiancee's
at the time of his death. Associ- the nine months ending Sept. 30, home for a meeting in
ates described him as a brilliant 1973. There was talk of orga- Franklin. But their investi-
nized crime involvement in the gation ended there.
businessman.
Joshua Doore Furniture
Mr. Leach joined Robinson business.
Mr. Leach had last been seen Inc. is no longer in existence,
Furniture in the mid-'60s and by
LO
rn
1971, he had taken control of the early Saturday morning the day though Robinson Furniture,
C)
under
different
ownership,
business with a partner. In 1972, before his body was discovered.
ti
he started Joshua Doore — His fiancee, who also lived in continues to this day. It now
0,1
whose famous logo was "You've Southfield, and several business advertises with its own un-
>-
cle,
"Uncle
Robinson."
CC
Harvey Leach:
got an uncle in the furniture partners reported that he had
Mr. Leach was survived by He "didn't have an enemy in the world."
business" — as a subsidiary of missed meetings.
Mr. Leach had been dead for his mother, his fiancee, two
Robinson. It featured five large
just can't believe anyone would
showrooms of furniture that pa- 12 hours when police found his daughters and his brother.
do this to him. Everyone liked
Soon
after
Mr.
Leach's
death,
trons could purchase, and take body. He had on the same coat,
him. I don't think the guy had an 33
his
former
associate
at
Joshua
pants
and
brown
shirt
he
had
home, on the spot. It didn't take
enemy in the world." ❑
"I
Detroit
News
Doore
told
the
been
seen
wearing
on
Saturday
long for Joshua Doore to ad-