In his high school years Lesher found work as a railroad waybill clerk and was active in sports, playing football, baseball, and soccer.
In 1997 Margaret Lesher drowned under mysterious circumstances[1][2] in Bartlett Lake in Arizona, while on a camping trip with her husband of six months, Collin "T.C."
[3][4] Though he had a successful legal practice in Kansas City, Missouri, Lesher grew bored with law and found himself fascinated with newspapers, especially their ability, in his view, to shape and improve a community.
While the local economy was booming with the war effort, civilian rationing meant empty store shelves and little to no advertising revenues.
Shortly after buying the Walnut Creek Journal-Courier in 1947, he renamed it the Contra Costa Times to reflect its growing primacy in the region.
[6] In 1983, President Ronald Reagan presented Lesher with the highest award granted by the National Newspaper Association for distinguished leadership.