Harold B. Jensen | Former Navy captain, 91

Harold B. Jensen, 91, of Coatesville, a retired Navy captain and steel-manufacturing consultant, died of a heart attack Aug. 30 at Philadelphia International Airport. He was taken ill while he and his grandson, Gregory, were dropping off a passenger.

Mr. Jensen grew up in Sleepy Eye, Minn., with seven siblings. He worked summers at a canning plant in his hometown and did other odd jobs to pay his way through the University of Minnesota. After graduating in 1939, he worked in the school's audio-visual department and then was an immigration inspector for the Department of Justice. During World War II, he enlisted in the Navy and was stationed for a year in Maui, Hawaii. He fell in love with the island and later in life he sounded a conch shell on the beach every year during January visits, said his son, Mark.

The Navy sent him to Harvard University, where he earned a master's degree in business administration in 1947. He stayed in the service and was a naval supply officer at bases here and in Korea and Japan. When he retired in 1965, he was director of the purchasing division of the U.S. Navy Aviation Supply Office in Philadelphia.

From 1965 to 1981, Mr. Jensen was in charge of purchasing at Lukens Steel in Coatesville. He then founded Raw Materials Advisory Service Inc. When he closed that business in 2004, he continued to consult, his son said.

Mr. Jensen was chairman of the East Caln Township Planning Commission in the 1960s and served on the board of Coatesville Hospital from 1966 to 1970.

He was an Eagles fan and an accomplished landscape gardener. He researched his Danish ancestry and until late in life he enjoyed golf, tennis and curling.

Since 1940 he had been married to his college sweetheart, Annabelle Johnson Jensen. They were longtime residents of Downingtown until moving in January to Freedom Village, a retirement community in Coatesville.

In addition to his wife, son and grandson, Mr. Jensen is survived by a daughter, Lynne.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. today at the Whitford Country Club, 600 Whitford Hills Rd., Exton.