Artist Leon Koury was born in Greenville, Mississippi in 1909. His parents were Syrian immigrants who opened a grocery store in the town. He studied art in New York. He returned to Greenville in 1961.
Koury was a sculptor of busts in clay and bronze as well as a painter. He created a bust of both William Alexander Percy and William Faulkner. His work is on permanent display at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.
In 1939, he served as the director of the Delta Art Center in Greenville where he also taught classes. Koury passed away in 1993.