Mr. T.A. Avis writes:-

As an intimate friend of Leonard Matters for 30 years I want to write to you about him, not so much to enlarge upon his special gifts as a journalist and writer, or in other capacities in which he excelled, but rather to dwell upon his human qualities. He knew life and its battle all about the globe, and thereby ripened his personality in many mental climates. There were no frontiers to his mind. Whatever might be the buffets of fortune no bitterness, no acidity, found a lodging with Leonard Matters. He was tough with a toughness that was more joie de vivre than anything else.

He possessed that kind of genial humour which makes a man beloved to friend or opponent. In that humour there was an ironic ingredient, which yet did not hurt but rather bespoke a warmth of feeling like the humour of Jane Austen. He was always a lover of mankind and incapable of harsh judgments. Superlative mental equipment and joyful companionship were inseparable elements in his personality. To have heard him sing "Must Yer 'Ave Meat With Yer Mustard?" or "The Fly be on the Turmut" will remain for all of us a pleasant memory. His going has left all his friends with a feeling of sad and irreparable loss.