Russell N. Leidy | Industrial engineer, 82

Russell N. Leidy, 82, formerly of Haverford, a retired industrial engineer and financial planner, died of heart failure Saturday at home in Vero Beach, Fla.

Mr. Leidy grew up in Delaware County and graduated from Haverford High School, where he met his future wife, Janice Hagy. He studied engineering at what is now Drexel University for two years and earned a bachelor's degree in business from Gettysburg College. While in school, he worked part time for the Budd Co. His grandfather Joseph Ledwinka designed the first successful steel automobile chassis for the company in the 1920s.

Mr. Leidy was an industrial engineer with Atlantic Refining for 18 years, then a data-processing executive for Central Penn and Continental Banks. He later was distribution and systems manager for Alco Standards in King of Prussia. For 10 years he operated a consulting firm. He was coordinator for investment and benefit funds at the Sun Oil Co. in Philadelphia when he retired in 1986.

Mr. Leidy had been on the operations committee of the Federal Reserve Bank in Philadelphia and a deacon at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church. He was a past president of the Sun Oil Retirement Club in Florida, where he and his wife had lived for the last 21 years.

He enjoyed woodworking and built two sailboats, his daughter, Linda, said. He was also an excellent car mechanic, she said, and restored a 1936 Packard he drove on special occasions.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Leidy is survived by a son, R. Scott; another daughter, Kathleen Eichert; a sister; six grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held in Florida.