Michael Schmitt | Federal employee, 61

Michael I.L.E. Schmitt, 61, of Glenolden, a retired federal employee, playwright, and Vietnam War veteran, died of lung cancer Sunday at home.

Mr. Schmitt grew up with 14 younger siblings in Drexel Hill, where he graduated from Monsignor Bonner High School. He earned a bachelor's degree from La Salle College.

He served in the Air Force in the States and did a tour of duty in Vietnam in 1969. While there, he was exposed to the defoliant Agent Orange, which doctors believed later caused his lung cancer, said his daughter, Theresa. He had recently been granted 100 percent military disability.

During his 35-year government career in Philadelphia, Mr. Schmitt worked for the Postal Service at 30th Street; was a contract negotiator at the Aviation Supply Office; was a negotiator and manager at the Naval Regional Contracting Center; and retired in 1995 as an acquisition manager at the Defense Personnel Support Center. He then was a contract consultant for Boeing Co. in Ridley Township.

While working, he earned a master's degree in fine arts from Villanova University and wrote and directed plays for area theaters. In 1992, his play

Prime Beef

, about Vietnam veterans reacting to the Persian Gulf war, was presented at the Colonial Playhouse in Aldan. A play he wrote and directed,

After the Dance

, was a hit at the 2006 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe, his daughter said.

Mr. Schmitt is also survived by a son, Michael; eight brothers; four sisters; his companion, Mary Jo Pratt; and his former wife, Sharon.

A Funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. tomorrow at St. Eugene Church, 200 S. Oak Ave, Primos, where friends may call after 9 a.m.