Hans A. van Leer of Trumansburg, NY passed away on Saturday, December 11, 2010, at his home surrounded by his family and caregivers at the age of 76. Hans was an avid outdoorsman, sportsman, and conservationist. His favorite pursuits were hunting, fishing, skiing, snowmobiling, tennis, swimming, maintaining his lawns, fields, woods, bird feeders and vegetable garden. Hans was born on February 28, 1934 in Bedford, MA, a son of the late Hans L. and Mary Cline van Leer. His interest in animal husbandry was nurtured by his mother\'s work for Audubon and his father\'s farm. As a child, Hans sat quietly to entice chickadees to eat out of his hand. He also enjoyed camping, baseball, and the 4-H. He played on the Concord High football team that won the 1951 Piedmont Bowl. The team had a 56 game winning streak that began in 1946. He received a B.S. Degree in Agriculture with a minor in Military Science from the University of Maine at Orono in 1956. He was a member of Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity and was an expert marksman on the rifle team and was in the Army ROTC and Ag Club. He was the University of Maine heavyweight boxing champion and Heavyweight State of Maine Golden Gloves Champion 1955-56. He was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Artillery branch of the Army until he was honorably discharged due to a knee injury. Hans worked for Babcock Industries in Ithaca as a Territory Salesman. He then took a job with Arbor Acres of CT. Arbor Acres moved Hans and family to Europe in the 1960\'s to oversee the building of large poultry complexes in Spain and Germany. He traveled as technical consultant to several European countries, and then returned state-side to continue to work for Arbor Acres at their facility in Williamstown, MA in the beautiful Berkshire Mountains. Hans returned to work for Babcock Industries as Director of Production while living in Trumansburg, NY. Then he moved to NJ to work for E. Holzer, Inc. of Englewood Cliffs, NJ, an International Agri-equipment sales and service company. For Holzer, he traveled the world extensively on five continents as the Director of Technical Services. His work helped to bring food and water to many developing third world countries. He was proud of the poultry industry\'s contributions to the immunology, vaccination, and pharmaceutical research fields that laid the groundwork for human vaccines. In the late 80\'s he moved back to Trumansburg, NY. He worked for Clock and De Cloux Poultry Farms of Ithaca before retiring. Throughout his retirement he was an activist for improvement of local water quality and was published several times as a guest columnist for the Ithaca Journal regarding these issues. Hans is survived by his wife, Elizabeth S. van Leer of Trumansburg; four children from a previous marriage, Jim van Leer of Trumansburg, NY, Lynn Seasholtz of New Boston, NH, H. Eric van Leer (Rachel) of Skaneateles, NY, and Lee Ann van Leer of Ithaca, NY; six grandchildren, Daniel Seasholtz, Megan Seasholtz, Michael Seasholtz, Nikolos van Leer, Jillian van Leer, and Skyler van Leer; one brother R. Karl van Leer (Rachel) of Lincoln, MA, one sister Katherine Crockett of Littleton, MA; as well as several nieces, nephews and cousins. Military burial will be in Lincoln Cemetery, Lincoln, MA. Memorial donations may be made to The National Cancer Institute (please designate for Zollinger Elision Syndrome Research). For instructions and address please go to http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/NCI/donations or make donations to Phi Kappa Sigma House Renovations, P. O. Box 3093, Portland, ME 04104-3093. Arrangements are under the care of Susan M. Dee and Charles W. Dee, Jr., Directors, Dee Funeral Home of Concord. For online guestbook visit www.deefuneralhome.com.