William Reynolds “Renny” McLeod was born Aug. 18, 1940, in Selma, Ala., the son of John Knox McLeod and Frances Reynolds.
From the age of nine months, he was raised by his grandmother Addie Mayson Perry Reynolds in Tuskegee, Ala. Renny entered Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University) in 1958, graduating in 1962. He received a Fulbright Fellowship and attended Heidelberg University from 1962-1963. Thereafter, he was a teaching and administrative assistant in the history department at the University of Maryland where, in 1967, he was awarded a Maryland fellowship to research his dissertation in London, where he worked, studied and researched for two years. From 1969, he taught at West Virginia University, accepting early retirement in 2000.
Renny was married to Vicki Louise Bond, of West Virginia, in 1974. During their 47-year marriage, the couple operated Unicorn Limited Inc./Scotpress, a publishing company. They actively wrote, researched and published as co-collaborators. Renny’s works include Anglo-Scottish Tracts and The Graphical Directory of English Newspapers, as well as over 500 Scottish family broadsheets and a wide variety of pamphlets and other books primarily on Scottish, Irish, Celtic and Scandinavian culture and history.
Renny was recognized as McLeod of the Year for the United States for his work in the Dunvegan Foundation. He was as well executive director of the London House for overseas graduate students for 14 years. Throughout his career as a teacher and publisher, he retained a firm commitment to equal rights for women, equality for those in the African-American and LGBTQ communities and for more responsible systems of higher education.
Renny returned to Alabama in 2003 with Vicki, where they continued to operate their company until Vicki’s death in 2020. Renny died on Tuesday, June 7, 2022, in Auburn, Ala. Charitable donations in Renny and Vicki’s names may be made to The Ridge Macon County Archaeology Project, c/o Shari L. Williams, Ph.D., Executive Director, 3 Conisburgh Ct., Columbus, GA 31907.
The Ridge Project is a 501(c))3 nonprofit, registered in the State of Alabama.
