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Edmund Inselmann | Overcame handicaps, 81

Edmund H. Inselmann, 81, of Willow Grove, who earned a doctorate and had a 40-year career with the government despite severe physical disabilities, died of pneumonia Nov. 23 at Abington Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Inselmann was born with cerebral palsy. Doctors encouraged his mother to institutionalize him, his niece, Susan Levonian, said. Instead, his mother kept him home, and fought to send him to public schools. When he graduated from Northeast High School, Levonian said, he was advised to operate a newsstand for a living.

Although he had difficulty speaking and walking, his niece said, he earned a bachelor's degree from Temple University, a master's degree in mathematics and statistics from Columbia University, and a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Inselmann worked for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in Philadelphia and, in 1969, joined the civilian staff of Army Materiel Command Headquarters in Washington. From 1982 until his retirement in 1991, he was a civilian employee for the Army at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

He developed error analysis for fire control for large weapons systems for the Army, designed experiments to test small arms ammunition, and improved statistical procedures used in test programs, his niece said. He was the author of numerous scientific papers.

Dr. Inselmann was founding president of Philadelphia Youth for Cerebral Palsy. In 1960, he received the Outstanding Achievement Award of the United Palsy Society of Philadelphia; in 1973, he was named the Outstanding Handicapped Federal Employee of the Year at a White House ceremony.

He is survived by his niece and her two sons.

A funeral and burial were private.

Memorial donations may be made to United Cerebral Palsy, 1660 L St. N.W., Washington, D.C., 20036.