Francis J. LeClair was born in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1884 and graduated from the State School of horticulture near Brussels in 1904. He emigrated to the United States in 1905 and worked for some years in the Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. areas.

In 1934 he was sent to North Carolina by the Department of Agriculture, and was hired in 1935 as a landscape gardener by the University. He worked for a time under the guidance of W.C. Coker, and after Dr. Coker's death, became Director of Grounds. Mr. LeClair retired in 1959 after 25 years at the University. He died November 11, 1973, at the age of 89.

To honor this renowned horticulturist and landscape architect, whose labor, love and skill added so measurably to the interest and beauty of this campus, friends established the Francis J. LeClair Award. This award is given annually to an outstanding graduating senior for academic excellence in Biology with an emphasis in Plant Sciences.