 Leir and his wife Erna supported several philanthropic causes through their "Ridgefield Foundation" (named after Ridgefield, Connecticut, one of their three home towns) and the "Leir Foundation" in Luxembourg.Among their donations were the endowments of several university chairs including the Henry J. Leir Professor of International Humanitarian Studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University, the Leir Professor of International Trade and Business at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the Henry J. Leir Professorial Chair at the Weizmann Institute in Israel and the Henry J. Leir Professor of Neurodegenerative Diseases at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.Also the Fletcher School renamed its institute to Henry J. Leir Institute for Human Security, and also established the "Henry J. Leir Human Security Award".