The Legacy of a Faithful Man: Remembering Ladd Lesh
It is with a broken heart that I share the news that my dear friend, colleague, and brother in Christ, Ladd Lesh, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Tuesday, September 22, 2026.
Along with the entire Apologia team, I am devastated by this loss.
Ladd leaves behind his wife of 18 years, April, and their nine children. I cannot imagine the depth of their grief, and I ask you to pray for them in the days and weeks ahead. Ladd’s memorial service will be held Saturday, October 3, at Christ Covenant Church in Matthews, North Carolina. An obituary has been published, and a fund has also been established to help provide financial support for his family.
But I want to do more than announce Ladd’s passing. I want to honor his life and legacy by sharing a few memories of the godly man I had the privilege of knowing and working alongside.
Ladd was homeschooled in the 1990s. I knew of his family, but they were part of the Charlotte-area homeschool community that was about ten years ahead of my own family, so our paths never crossed. Years later, two of Ladd’s sisters were working at Apologia. When Ladd was considering a career change, one of them encouraged him to contact me.
At the time, I didn’t have an opening at Apologia. But because Ladd came with excellent references, I agreed to meet him for lunch. Then he kept calling me back every once in a while.
I suppose you could say he was tenacious. Like the persistent widow in Luke 18, he didn’t give up. Finally, in 2011, an opportunity opened, and I hired Ladd for a sales position to grow our private-school business.
It didn’t take long for him to distinguish himself. Ladd was competent, diligent, thoughtful, and dependable. He quickly rose through the ranks and became an important contributor to both the work and ministry of Apologia.
In 2016, I began intentionally mentoring Ladd to prepare him to take on greater leadership responsibilities. Then, in 2018, I made several significant changes to our business plan and organizational structure. One of those changes was naming Ladd General Manager.
Honestly, I expected it might take another year of hand-holding to get him fully up to speed. I was wrong. Within one month, I knew we were headed in the right direction. Ladd took the bull by the horns and began putting his mark on the organization. He brought an unusual combination of attention to detail, commitment to excellence, and a desire to build systems that actually worked.
For several years, we met every week. Then, as we made progress and problems became fewer, we moved to every other week. By 2023, we were meeting only once a month because Apologia had become a well-oiled machine. Much of that was due to Ladd.
One of my favorite memories is sitting around the table with Ladd and our CFO at the end of our monthly executive team meetings. More than once, the three of us commented on how rare and remarkable our working relationship was. We genuinely loved working together. None of us was redundant. We challenged one another. We pushed back when necessary. We sharpened one another.
It was Proverbs 27:17 lived out in the workplace: “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”
Losing Ladd leaves a tremendous hole at Apologia. But more than that, it leaves a tremendous hole in the lives of April, their nine children, his extended family, and the many people who loved him. Ladd was a devoted husband, a faithful homeschool dad, a trusted friend, and a man who believed deeply in the mission and values of Apologia. I am grateful to God for the years I had with him and for the privilege of calling him my friend.
And I think Ladd would want us to remember what matters most. So tonight, read your children a good book. Open the Word of God and share a portion of it with them. And hold them a little longer before tucking them into bed.
Do it tonight.
And tomorrow night.
And the night after that.
Because life is short. Eternity is real. And the people God has entrusted to us are precious gifts.
Thank you, Ladd, for your friendship, your faithfulness, your hard work, and the legacy you leave behind.
You will be deeply missed.
