Leroy Pifer was born in Dayton, Ohio, December 4, 1961. He was a graduate of Maranatha Christian Academy, Mayville, New York, and a 1986 graduate of Atlantic Baptist Bible College, Chester, Virginia. He and Mary Jane Chatham were married January 2, 1988. 

They were approved as Baptist Bible Fellowship missionaries to Ecuador in May, 1990. Their sending church was Landmark Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia, Rev. Jim Sumpter, pastor. A good church was started by Bro. Pifer in El Carmen and several young people had been called into the ministry and were studying in the Bible Institute in Santo Domingo. 

On December 31, 1998, Leroy and his five-year-old daughter, Rachel, were on his motor scooter. A vehicle hit them head on; Leroy fell to the left and Rachel to the right. The driver swerved to the left running over Leroy as he was trying to get up. The driver abandoned his car and ran away. Leroy was taken by ambulance to Quito, three hours away. He died enroute. Rachel suffered only cuts and bruises. 

Leroy Pifer was survived by his wife, Mary Jane; three daughters, Rebecca, Rachel, Ruth; and one son, Ronald. He is buried in Ecuador. Several hundred townspeople and many missionaries attended his funeral.