Leak and Sons Funeral Homes

A.R. Leak Funeral Home provided the services for my young cousin who lost his life to the city’s gun violence this year. I believe the manner of his death played a role in the way his services were handled. This funeral home seems to write off the deaths of young black men in Chicago as gang related even if the victim was an innocent bystander or an unintended target. They are located in one of the hubs of the city’s violence so I’m sure they do handle their fair share of funerals for gun shot victims. This was pretty evident at my cousin’s funeral. They behaved as though they were just completing a task on their list of things to do that day. Just going through the motions, I guess.
My family agreed that their conduct could have been more professional. One of the attendants was wearing gym shoes and sweat pants at the service. While I don’t make it a point to frequent funerals, I’ve been to enough to know that her attire was just tacky. Whether you’ve been to one or one hundred funerals you expect a certain level of professionalism, including style of dress. I also thought the way they spoke to us was rather rude. While announcing the directions for the cemetery procession, one of the attendants added in that they don’t need help doing their job as far as directing traffic. This is an understandable notion, however, her delivery was snarky and condescending.
They get two stars despite the attendants because my cousin did look nice and the service for the most part was lovely. I hope that this funeral home learns to put some compassion back into its business. We understand that you handle thousands of funerals and it becomes routine at some point. However, you can still afford to throw in some kindness and respect when dealing with grieving families.

My dad recently passed away and we chose leak to do a memorial service. When we met with the staff, we were held in a large open area with other families and had to wait at least 45 minutes after our scheduled appointment with spencer leak sr. When they called us in finally for the appointment, he passed us off to another director. She was helpful, but not well versed in the process. We decided to use the Jackson Chapel for our services. It was the least outdated of all the rooms available. We were doing a cremation so only needed to have a few photos of the deceased and a dvd tribute for the guests. So, during the days prior to the memorial we were trying to finalize the details and couldn’t get our calls returned. My mom had to stalk the assigned funeral director on her day off to just get a response. As a result, I had to ask for a new funeral director to handle our service. We arrived to check out the room we were assigned, when I got there to go over the setup with her, there was a body in an open casket just out in the open. Clearly no respect for your loved ones. I was so glad we were not having funeral services here. I had to walk around this poor woman’s casket to finish our arrangements.
The day of the memorial service, we were told to arrive for a 3pm start of services by 2:30pm. Once we arrived, we were told that the chapel we reserved was still being used by another family that was running over. So we would have to have our guest gather in an empty chapel until the other party decided to end their service. Mr. Spencer Leak sr. came by after I argued with a funeral director to get him. He said this is all I can do for you. So I told him I wanted a refund of the room charge and we ended up using the alternate chapel for my dads services. At this point, there was nothing we could do. They had our $$$. In the end we received a refund for the room charge and made the services work. I would give ZERO stars for this place if I could. I’d love to have channel two news’ Pam Zeckman do one of those undercover investigations on this place. To make matters worse they tried to get us to use their florist which is attached to their building. We go to visit the florist and she’s a family member of the Leak’s. the flowers they provided were rentals and made of plastic. LMAO!!! When we were remotely thinking of choosing a floral spray for the memorial services. We were told: I’m sorry I don’t have a matching pair as one of the flowers was stolen from the last funeral. Please pick another… OMG! Beware…

Our friend passed away and this funeral home was used.
They did a good job, all around and were most helpful to his family.
2 parking lots, one next door and one across the street.

As difficult as it is to loose a love one, I cannot think of a more caring and compassionate Funeral Home to handle the arrangements than Leak & Sons. Having had my first experience with death be the loss of my Grandfather, it was a very comforting and peaceful experience from start to finish.
The Leak’s as well as their staff, went above and beyond the call of duty to accommodate my family while showing immeasurable compassion and sympathy. I am proud to know that they are an African American Family owned operation that has been a pillar in our community for decades. I certainly pray that when my time comes to make my transition they will be around to provide the comfort and compassion that my family will need in their time of need. On behalf of my family I would like to personally thank Spencer Leak Jr. and the entire Leak family and staff for making me proud to be an African American that can do business in my own community.
Thank you, God bless you all and keep up the outstanding work that you do soo Passionately and Well!
The Clark Family

My boyfriend’s sister passed very unexpectedly, and her son (in his early 20’s) planned most of the arrangements through Leak & Sons. I realize Leak & Sons is a very old business that has been serving the Chicago south side for a few generations, and in fact some members in my boyfriend’s family have gone to church with the Leaks for years. I however found all services sub-​par, and lacking efficiency and they all seemed quite new at it, not like they’ve been thriving for generations.
The family of the deceased was told to be there at 4:30. We arrived at 4 and they have several very large parking lots around the building for visitation attendees. We went in the front doors, and there’s a large reception counter, where we gave the name of the deceased and said we were with the family. The receptionist told us «Oh no, that body isn’t ready yet. We don’t start until 7pm.» Hmm… that’ll be a problem. Boyfriend immediately started getting agitated. «You can wait in the waiting room though.»
Aaaah, the waiting room. Crazy bright lighting, square room with shoddy laminate flooring, a few chairs (like 12) around the outside of the room, crooked frames on the walls, a water cooler, and 5 doors. This room is anything but quiet or serene. People were coming in and out of these doors every 40 seconds. In one, out the other. In the 3^rd, out the 4^th. It was SO disruptive. Then the whole family arrived, and we were all sitting in that room for about 40 minutes. I asked the reception if there was a coat room we could all put our winter coats in. Nope. No coat room either.
They finally show us to the visitation room, where the deceased was. There was some dreadfully sad piano music playing over the speakers that we eventually requested they turn off. The room was set up like a church. Viewing lane at the front, and the entire room filled with pews. NO area to gather, talk, congregate. Was strange. Not even a place to sit so that you’re facing someone else. Then, while the family found a seat to sit in and be quiet for a few moments, staff continually came in and out through the doors to place plants and flowers up at the front of the room. Even when the family was sitting quietly and there were tears and grieving, in they came again and again, all walking back and forth in front of the deceased. Incredibly disruptive, and then they kept moving them all around, and shifting where they were. They had no table or anything for the family to lay out a few photos. There was a single box of tissues in the room. Come on!!! This is a business that’s been around for generations.
Overall, I found the place and the service to be disturbing, not quite thoughtful, and pretty disorganized. The actual room was pretty, parking convenient, but if you want a more comforting experience, and a service that makes sure you are at ease throughout the process, I say keep looking around.

This is a personal message to the Leak Funeral Home family business… Ok, when you are going through a time of berevement, and the person that you are planning services for had no insurance, and MOST OF ALL, you have no money to put away anybody, you need someone to aleast work with you. These son of b**ches ain’t trying to hear that s**t. We put more than half the money down, and they still want 3 other people to be as contacts for collateral. And pay the balance within 45 short days. They are in a business where they make alot of money, and they can’t give us a little more time to pay the s**t off? I wouldn’t recommend these people to bury a gymshoe. Don’t go to Leaks trust me. They ain’t from shit and they some thirsty m*****f*ckas. One star rating I give you… F**k that, give it back.

I buried my family member on Friday, March 6^th, 2009 with Leak Funeral Home in Country Club Hills and I was very disappointed with the service provided. The limos were supposed to pick up our immediately family at 8am and did not arrive until 9:15am. The funeral service was scheduled to begin at 10 am and the immediate family arrived shortly before the beginning of the program. Since we arrived so late our family was not there early to greet the guest and extended family that had traveled and taken off work to attend the service. At the conclusion of the service the Leak funeral home announced that the family would first go up to review the remains. I was rushed through the line to see the deceased and after the immediate family viewed the body and was escorted out they closed the casket and began to push the casket out of the door. Over 300 people were not allowed the opportunity to review the deceased before the burial. As they hurriedly pushed the casket down the aisle the funeral home attendants began to push the visitors out of the way and the casket hit several of the guests. The attendants were very rude and belligerent as they requested for families to cease communion and hurry to their cars immediately after the service ended. And the funeral attendants ended the service without allowing for the benediction or the final prayer.
I have never received such poor treatment and insensitivity concerning the deceased. Not only will I never use Leak funeral home as long as I live but I will not attend services held in that space. I strongly discourage anyone from using their facilities especially if you would like your deceased to be handled with care.

I went to Leak and Sons today for the burial of my friend. I met some of the staff at the door and told them which funeral I was there for and that I was going to be with the procession. The driver was late, so I waited in the waiting room, and after a while, I excused myself to use the restroom. While I was there, the procession left without me. There were only 3 of us going to the cemetery, and I had told them that I was going to use the restroom (one restroom in this very large facility), so this couldn’t have been an oversight — they just decided to leave without me. When I came back to the waiting room, they told me to try and catch up with the procession, and I tried but I couldn’t. When I called back and asked them if they could give me directions and wait for me, they gave me directions and I went straight to the cemetery. When I arrived, they had already put my friend in the ground and left. Of the 6 people on staff that I spoke with as I tried to find out what was going on, not one even offered an apology. I’m a minister, and I conduct funerals myself and work with various funeral homes from time to time. I’ve never seen a funeral home with such callous disregard for the deceased and their loved ones.