Matthew Fillip "Fil" Leanderson (March 11, 1931 – November 2, 2006) was an American rower who competed in the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

. He was born in Seattle, Washington and grew up in Alderwood Manor, and graduated from Edmonds High School. In 1952, he was the stroke of the American boat in the Olympic Four with coxwain event. Because their coach was absent at the Olympics, Leanderson directed his team which won the bronze medal with a 7:37.0 finish, just 0.5 seconds behind the silver-medal-winning Swiss team. He went on to coach at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later left MIT to coach the freshman crew team at the University of Washington, where he took over as head coach from 1959 to 1967. He also coached rowing at Western Washington University from 1977 to 1993. Leanderson was inducted into the Western Washington University Hall of Fame in 1998 and the University of Washington Hall of Fame in 2002. He died in

Kirkland, Washington Kirkland is a city in King County, Washington, United States. A suburb east of Seattle, its population was 92,175 in the 2020 U.S. census which made it the sixth largest city in the county and the twelfth largest in the state. The city's downto ...

. He is interred at

Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park originated in 1885. It is located on both sides of Aurora Avenue in Seattle, Washington, and occupies roughly 144 acres (58 ha). It is the largest cemetery in Seattle. History At the time of its inception, the a ...

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1931 births 2006 deaths Rowers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in rowing American male rowers Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Washington Huskies men's rowing coaches {{US-rowing-Olympic-medalist-stub