Joseph S. Derham, 81, civic leader

Joseph S. Derham, 81, of Haddonfield, an investment manager and civic leader, died of congestive heart failure Sunday at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden.

For 47 years, Mr. Derham was an investment manager for Morgan Stanley, a financial services firm. In June, he retired as a senior vice president.

He enjoyed his career, clients and coworkers, said his son, Gregory, and loved Haddonfield, his home for 54 years.

For many years, Mr. Derham served on the Haddonfield school board and chaired the finance, athletic and curriculum committees. He helped supervise the construction of a middle school, the expansion of the elementary school, and a major addition to Haddonfield Memorial High School in the 1970s. He also chaired the school board committee that purchased fields for youth athletic programs and developed the Radnor Field sports complex in Haddonfield.

Mr. Derham was chairman of the selection committee for the Robert Fulton Memorial Scholarship Fund, which provides financial assistance to students in South Jersey. In 1984, he organized the planning and construction of a war veterans' memorial in Haddonfield.

A native of Long Island, Mr. Derham served in the Army during World War II and participated in the Battle of the Bulge. He was wounded and suffered frostbite and received a Purple Heart.

After his discharge, he earned a bachelor's degree from Ursinus College. He and his wife, Dorothy Warren Derham, raised three sons in Haddonfield, where Mr. Derham was active with the Midget Football and Little League programs.

He was a Dodgers and Phillies fan and in recent years had "enormous fun" watching his grandchildren's athletic events, his son said.

In addition to his wife of 64 years and son Gregory, Mr. Derham is survived by a son Thomas, two sisters, and six grandchildren. A son Joseph Jr. died in 1993.

A Funeral Mass will be at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at Christ the King Church, 200 Windsor Ave., Haddonfield. Friends may call from 7 to 9 p.m. today at Kain & Murphy Funeral Home, 15 West End Ave., Haddonfield.