Brother Leroy Gaines was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. and grew up in Newark, NJ. He attended
St. Benedict’s Prep, moved to Lakewood, NJ and in 1970, he was the first Black student to graduate from St. Josephs H.S. in Toms River, N.J.

Brother Gaines went on to attend Rutgers University-Livingston College campus (“The Rock”) where he majored in Economics, played football for the Metropolitan Conference Champions Livingston Panthers and DJ’d on the college radio station, WRLC-AM. It was on January 31, 1971 Brother Gaines embarked on his journey into the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. Pledging under the Upsilon Phi Chapter in Newark, NJ, 31 students from six college campuses endured a rigorous nine-month pledgeship. On August 31, 1971, 12 Angry Men crossed the “burning sands” and were initiated into the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. Shortly thereafter the Livingston College Bruhs resolved to apply for an Undergraduate Chapter Charter at Rutgers University (four of the other LB’s also applied for Charters at their colleges as well). On November 6, 1973 Dwight Jenkins and Colonel Bracey delivered our application to our National Headquarters in Washington, D.C. On April 24, 1974 we celebrated the Founding of Tau Zeta Chapter.

Upon completion of studies at Rutgers University, Brother Gaines went on to work on an MBA-Finance from Pace University and careers in Investment Management, Economic Development & Commercial Revitalization and Business Banking in New York. He has a loving daughter Tiffany who attended Buffalo State College, and in April 2018 she became his “Sister” upon initiation into the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority