Prominent local developer F. Wayne McLeskey dies

VIRGINIA BEACH

F. Wayne McLeskey Jr., one of the most influential developers in the region, especially in Virginia Beach, died from complications of surgery Friday evening. He was 88.

Among his many holdings was the Virginia Beach Fishing Center at Rudee Inlet, and he leased out many shopping centers. In the Beach, he was one of the city's largest taxpayers.

McLeskey developed Lynnhaven Marine in Virginia Beach, with its large indoor boatel, where boats were stored. In recent years, he sold the Indigo Dunes property off Shore Drive to the Sandler family, and he owned a large waterfront parcel in Norfolk's Fort Norfolk.

For more than 30 years, Carl Isbrandtsen was McLeskey's lawyer. On Friday, he said McLeskey began as his client, then grew to become a friend and mentor. Isbrandtsen called McLeskey a "big-picture" businessman who was slow to make decisions because he carefully considered the results of hisdecisions before making them.

"Whatever problem he faced, he asked, 'How is it going to affect this situation down the road?' " Isbrandtsen said.

McLeskey was patient, too. Always waiting for the right opportunity, the lawyer said.

"I was just in awe of his abilities and his big-picture outlook that most people I represented never had. If he believed something, no one was going to dissuade him."

Isbrandtsen said McLeskey owned Virginia Beach property between Dam Neck Road and Owls Creek, a shopping center at Great Neck Road and property in Ocean Park near Shore Drive.

When he wasn't making deals, family members said, McLeskey was a doting father and husband who loved aviation.

"People always came to him and he always gave," Cheryl McLeskey, his wife of 20 years, said Friday. "He was generous to politicians and to people."

McLeskey was a prominent contributor to Republican campaigns and gave more than $350,000 to the party over the past 15 years.

Gov. Bob McDonnell said he's known McLeskey and his family since the early '90s. He respected his business acumen and McLeskey as a person.

"Wayne had an incredible business savvy," McDonnell said. "He was able to give you a straight, direct opinion about a situation."

The Croatan resident also was an avid ballroom dancer.

"Wayne could dance with me and swing me and lead me, and he had such a smile on his face that reflected what was in his heart," his wife said. "Our marriage was a dance."

He loved animals as much as the four children they had together, Cheryl McLeskey said.

McLeskey said she and her husband rarely watched TV, and instead favored sitting on the sofa in front of the fireplace and talking.

McLeskey was also known for his love of boating.

He was 9 when he launched his first boat, an orange crate covered with canvas, according to a 1977 story that appeared in The Virginian-Pilot.

Mason Gamage, McLeskey's best friend, said he met him while working at a planning office in Norfolk some 60 years ago. They maintained a strong friendship over the years.

"He never asked for anything," Gamage remembered.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Jennifer Jiggetts, (757) 222-5150, jennifer.jiggetts@pilotonline.com