Ted Leach was born in NY, raised in Springfield, IL, lived in Tulsa and Dallas, and moved to NH in 1979. He has owned three weekly newspapers: the Monadnock Ledger in Peterborough, NH, the Nantucket (MA) Beacon, and the McCormick (SC) Messenger. All three newspapers were consistently recognized for excellence across the publishing spectrum. The Nantucket paper was voted New England's top newspaper in 1992 and 1993. In 1992 he founded the New England Marionette Opera, the first and only opera company in the country performed entirely by marionettes. He served two terms in the House of Representatives (NH) and co-chaired The Carbon Coalition, a major non-profit dedicated to promoting carbon free energy. He lives with his wife Beverly, and their rescue dog Bagel, on a quiet lake in New Hampshire.