Gleeson graduated from the
University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1926 and entered into legal practice with
Thomas D. McBride. In 1934, he became an assistant United States attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. When U.S. attorney
James Cullen Ganey was appointed to a judgeship on the United States District Court in 1940, Gleeson was appointed by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt to succeed him. On January 14, 1958, Leader appointed Gleeson to fill James C. Crumlish Sr.'s seat on the court of common pleas of Philadelphia. He remained on the bench until his retirement in 1976. ==Personal life and death==