Leon Lincoln Lyon Jr.

Leon Lyon, Jr. passed away peacefully on January 17, 2026, at the age of 80, surrounded by the love of his family. He was born on May 6, 1945, to Leon and Rosemarie Lyon in Oakland, California. Leon was preceded in death by his mother, father and step-father, Robert Gran. He is survived by his wife of 25 years, Lynn, his brother, William “Bill” Gran, a cousin, Grady Griswold, and many cherished friends and former coworkers.

Leon spent his childhood years in Aurora, Illinois. He loved baseball as a boy and developed his pitching arm by repeatedly throwing baseballs through a tire in his grandfather’s basement. Interestingly, his grandpa, who owned several small city meat markets, asked “Junior” (as he was known to the family) to collect overdue accounts and that was his introduction to the credit business-at the age of 10. The family moved to Arvada, Colorado in the early 60’s where Leon graduated from Arvada High School with a letter in another sports passion, basketball. He enlisted in the Army in 1967 and served in Viet Nam with the 43rd Combat Engineers.

Leon worked in the lending business for 33 years, first in 1973, with GE Capital, where destiny later led him to GE Capital’s Auto Auctions division around 1986. GE Capital Auto Auctions was purchased by Manheim Auctions in 1991. Leon served as the Midwest Auctions Regional Manager for Manheim until 1993, when he was given the responsibility for the start up and operation of the Auctions’ in-house finance company known as MAFS. He and his team grew MAFS into Manheim’s largest business unit by the time of Leon’s retirement in 2006.

Leon was introduced to the game of golf at age 13; his ensuing love affair with the “game of sticks” would last a lifetime. A privilege of his job was accompanying clients to a number of The Masters golf tournaments as well as participating in Chick-fil-A’s annual golf tournament Pro-Am with clients and coworkers. “The Chick,” as he referred to it, was an annual highlight for him. A personal golf accomplishment: He and his best friend, Mike Wynn, were on the team that won the Gold Rush tournament at their home club, the Country Club of Roswell (Georgia), in 2009. The Gold Rush is a competition between 36 4-man teams where teams are eliminated over the course of five successive golf holes.

His retirement years were good to Leon. He and Lynn moved to a golfing community in Venice, Florida in 2006 because, in Florida, “I can play golf nearly every day if I want to.” Several years later they moved to a condo on the beach in Daytona. Leon particularly enjoyed living on the ocean and living near the Daytona International Speedway. There were a couple of memorable trips to Europe with dear friends (hard to beat Palm Sunday at Notre Dame Cathedral) and the next winter Leon even discovered a new passion: snowmobiling. In 2017 they moved to Albuquerque to be near Leon’s brother, Bill, but the following year there were signs that Leon was experiencing troubling physical and mental changes. In 2019 he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and Lewy Body dementia. He fought valiantly for the next seven years, never losing the twinkle in his eye nor his sense of humor.

Leon was smart, funny, kind, compassionate and it has been said, bossy. At various points during his lifetime, he served as a Big Brother, an Elk, a church board member, as well as a coach or referee for boy's city basketball leagues. He enjoyed working at the Special Olympics Games Days in Atlanta, delivering Meals on Wheels in Albuquerque and giving money to panhandlers. When he handed a person some money, he then made it a point to shake their hand. Every.Single.Time. He had a quiet faith in God from early Catholic training and in later years, wore a couple of disks on a chain around his neck. One read “TTT” ([give of your] time, talent, treasure) and the other read “WWJD” (What would Jesus do). Leon is dearly missed but oh, the memories he left those who remain!

Visitation will be held Thursday, January 29, 2026, from 2-4pm, at Daniels Funeral Home, 7601 Wyoming Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109. Leon’s place of interment will be Ft Logan National Cemetery, Denver, CO. Memorial contributions may be made to Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, 4020 Lomas Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110.