The Lebby Family

Leopold and Celia Lebby immigrated separately to Western Pennsylvania from Eastern Europe in the 1880s, married and settled in McKeesport, Pa., where Leopold managed a tavern. They had five children, Morely, Edward, Belle, Jack, William and Benjamin.

Morely Lebby moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he started the Altas Paper Box Company. Edward Lebby moved to California, where he worked as a salesman for the Warner Brothers movie studio. Benjamin Lebby started Lebby’s Men’s Store in a small storefront in Kittanning, Pa. The business claimed to be the first suit club in the country.

Belle Lebby married Ben Berger, the first Jewish physician in New Castle. About 1915, after Leopold Lebby died, Celia Lebby moved to New Castle with her sons Jack and William. Jack Lebby took a job with the S&M Tire Company, which took him to Washington, D.C. In 1920, he married Bee Edelstein, who was the sister of his employer.

William Lebby joined the Williams-Cleaveland Company, an insurance agency in New Castle. In 1925, he sold his interest in the company to his brother Jack and moved to California, where he was one of the first Americans to represent Lloyds of London and was part of the team that insured actress Betty Grable’s legs for $1 million in the 1940s.

Jack and Bea Lebby had one child, Marvin. Marvin Lebby (b. 1931) went to Slippery Rock University and served with the U.S. military from 1951 to 1954, which included year in Korea. When he returned to New Castle, he joined his father in the insurance business. The Lebby family attended Temple Israel in New Castle and later Temple Hadar Israel.