Jerome Tieger | Engineer, developer, 84

Jerome Tieger, 84, formerly of Rydal, an engineer and real estate developer, died of Alzheimer's disease Tuesday at the Wyncote Church Home.

In the 1950s, Mr. Tieger founded PBS Inc. mechanical contractors. The firm specialized in industrial heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems. He later developed real estate projects, his son Todd said, including apartment complexes in Chestnut Hill, Manayunk, and Tobyhanna, Pa., and a shopping center in Mount Pocono, Pa.

In the 1970s, he established Pafco Inc., a pipe-fabrication facility in Panama City, Fla.

After retiring in the mid-1980s, he was a consulting engineer on projects in the United States and abroad for several years.

Mr. Tieger graduated from West Philadelphia High School. During World War II, he served in the Army Air Corps as a flight instructor in Alabama. He then earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Drexel Institute of Technology, now Drexel University. He was called back to military duty during the Korean War and piloted B-29s on combat missions.

While in the service during World War II, he married his high school sweetheart, Doris Goldman. The couple, who had three children, divorced in the 1980s. She died in 2000.

Mr. Tieger enjoyed tennis and deep-sea fishing in Florida and at the Jersey Shore.

In addition to his son, he is survived by another son, Mark; a daughter, Kim; a sister; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

The funeral will begin at 3 p.m. today at Joseph Levine & Sons Memorial Chapel, 7112 N. Broad St., Philadelphia.