Williams and his late wife, Marjorie (above left), shared a passion for helping others. A school for
abused and neglected children in North Carolina is named for Marjorie Williams, who died in 1915.
You can see the Williams name on the bottom left tier of the Harvey & Carol Massey Grand Staircase
(above right) and on the Leonard & Marjorie Williams Stage Door (facing page). Shown at the staircase
are (seated, left to right): Mary Williams, Leonard Williams Sr., Marilyn Williams and Jessica Williams.
Also shown are (standing, left to right): John Williams (Mary’s husband), Leonard “Len” Williams Jr.
(Marilyn’s husband) and Michael Williams (Jessica’s husband). In addition, the staircase inscription
includes the late Douglas Williams, a son of Leonard and Marjorie Williams, who died in 2014.
in the snack-food industry, Williams began to
work quietly alongside his friend Wayne M.
Densch, whose company, Wayne Densch
Inc., was then the sixth-largest Anheuser-
Busch distributorship in the U.S.
him, Williams preferred a more informal role
-
tant. He remained a behind-the-scenes
force at the company until he was named
Although Densch — who had no children
— had planned for Williams to buy the distributorship
outright, Anheseur-Busch had long
been determined to create several smaller
units out of the sprawling Densch enterprise.
72 artsLife | FALL 2018
How it would all shake out remained unclear
Ultimately, however, the soft-spoken Williams
emerged with a lucrative distributorship
in Seminole, Lake and Orange counties
-
ship of the Wayne M. Densch Charitable
Trust and the Wayne M. Densch Charities.
Williams, already a formidable giver in his
own right, had an opportunity to extend his
-
tinuing to support his own causes. And he
has been doing exactly that for the past 24-
plus years, impacting the lives of countless
Central Floridians along the way.
This year, Williams donated $1 million to