Spencer Leak Jr., one of the leaders of the Chicago funeral titan Leak and Sons, has died at 56, his family confirmed Sunday.

Mr. Leak Jr. — one of three sons of Spencer Leak Sr. — helped run the family funeral homes for more than 45 years as they grew and remained a staple of the South Side’s Black community.

The family has handled the funerals of several notable Chicagoans through the years, including soul singer Sam Cooke, comedian Bernie Mac, rapper Juice WRLD and drug kingpin William Morris “Flukey” Stokes. Earlier this year they hosted the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.’s funeral.

It’s a family business through and through. Mr. Leak Jr.’s son, Spencer “Tre” Leak III, had started working there last week.

Mr. Leak Jr.’s family described his passing as “sudden,” but didn’t immediately share the cause of his death. They praised him as a ”family man, champion of Chicago’s businesses, and a generous mentor to entrepreneurs across our city.”

“Alongside his brothers, Stacy and Stephen, he upheld a legacy now spanning three generations and rooted in a simple promise: that every family, regardless of means, deserves to lay their loved ones to rest with dignity,” the Leak family said in a statement. “He was a tireless advocate for families who could not afford a burial.”

The Leak family has been in the funeral business since 1933, when the Rev. Andrew Leak, Mr. Leak Jr.’s grandfather, started the funeral home with what he saved from working as a bathroom attendant at the Chicago World’s Fair and a loan from his wife. He said he wanted Black Chicagoans to be able to bury their loved ones respectfully.

The couple ran the business with their three sons, including the youngest, Leak Sr. After Andrew Leak died in 1993, Leak Sr., now 88, took over as president and owner and renamed the business Leak and Sons; Mr. Leak Jr. began work there at a young age.

“I was 12, answering phones, 15, washing limousines and [serving as] funeral attendant,” Mr. Leak Jr. told the Chicago Sun-Times earlier this year. “At 16, the day after I got my driver’s license, I was picking up families for funeral services.”

Mr. Leak Jr. earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mortuary science and funeral service at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale before becoming a licensed funeral director in 1989 at age 20.

He ascended to vice president of Leak and Sons in 1993, before his 24th birthday.

Earlier this year, he told the Sun-Times he considered himself and his father a “dynamic duo” as they prepared for Jackson Sr.’s funeral. Mr. Leak Jr. personally drove the famed civil rights leader’s body to South Carolina.

“I never want to say that I’m in charge, because that would not be [giving] deference to my father,” Mr. Leak Jr. told the Sun-Times earlier this year. “[My father] calls me every morning, ‘You are my leader. What am I doing today?’ But it’s really the opposite.”

Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times

Ald. William Hall (6th) was a young pastor when he met Mr. Leak Jr. 24 years ago. Hall recalled hosting funerals together, consoling grieving families and ensuring the dead were given the respect they deserved. More recently, they had seen each other at the funeral of a teen who was killed in a mass shooting outside the Chicago Theatre late last year.

“I saw him touch people at their lowest moments through compassion,” Hall said. “He will forever be a great-hearted man who used his hands to build what was in his heart. … Spencer helped me to be a better man.”

Hall noted Leak Sr. and Rev. Leak’s work to desegregate Oakwood Cemetery, “one of the most sacred grounds for Black leadership.” It’s where the family buried Jackson Sr. alongside other city icons like former Mayor Harold Washington.

Mr. Leak Jr. carried that familial sense of justice as he worked to better the area around the business. Hall said the funeral director donated $5,000 to a local store that struggled when SNAP benefits were cut.

“The work of Spencer was a reflection of his lineage,” Hall said. “He set a new cadence for Black excellence.”

Mr. Leak Jr.’s siblings, mother and cousin are also involved in the business, which conducts more than 2,500 burials annually. Five days before his passing, Mr. Leak Jr. showed pride in his son joining the business.

“He is, at this point, the lowest person on the totem pole,” his father joked in a video posted to social media, one of several posts praising his son’s work. “I thank God for you Tre, you’re gonna be an excellent employee and assistant to us all. … Make your grandfather proud, make your great grandfather proud.”

Earlier this year, Mr. Leak Jr. said his son was set to start mortuary science school in the fall, following in his footsteps.

Tre “has said that he must continue our legacy,” Mr. Leak Jr. told the Sun-Times earlier this year. “There a lot of Black owned funeral homes are selling to conglomerates right now. … But my son stepped up and said he did not want us to do that. He wants to be able to continue it.”

Charles Childs Jr., the owner of the 112-year-old multigenerational A.A. Rayner and Sons Funeral Home, called Mr. Leak Jr. a “pillar” of the community and said he was meant to be in the funeral business because his deep empathy was second nature.

“It’s a calling, it’s part of the ministry of our community,” Childs said. “The Leak family is an institution.”

When Jesse Jackson Jr. first ran for Congress, Mr. Leak Jr. joined him on the campaign trail. The two had grown up playing basketball together, a continuation of a family friendship that developed earlier on when the Jacksons moved into the Leaks’ former home.

Mr. Leak Jr. also mentored Black youth through the nonprofit 100 Black Men.

Leak and Sons has three funeral home locations: One in Chicago, at 7838 S. Cottage Grove Ave., and two locations suburban Country Club Hills and Matteson.

Mr. Leak Jr. is survived by his wife Dr. Donna Leak and children Spencer Leak III and Emma Leak. Services are to be announced.