Joseph R. Lynch | Aerospace engineer, 84

Joseph R. Lynch, 84, formerly of West Chester, a GE aerospace engineer and amateur astronomer, died of complications of Alzheimer's disease March 28 at Brentwood, a retirement community in Lecanto, Fla.

For almost 40 years, Mr. Lynch was involved with NASA projects at General Electric, including space probes to Jupiter and Venus and the first rocket to the moon.

After retiring in the late 1980s, he consulted for the aerospace industry until 1994. He was fascinated with astronomy, his daughter Joanne said. He funded, with a matching grant from GE, the Joseph R. Lynch Observatory at Drexel University. The observatory, which opened in 2003, houses one of the largest telescopes on the East Coast and is open to the public one night a month for stargazing.

Mr. Lynch graduated from La Salle College High School in Philadelphia. During World War II, he served in the Marine Corps and participated in the invasion of Iwo Jima. While on leave in Chicago, he met his future wife, Marie Olson, and asked her to go bowling. They married in 1946.

After his discharge, Mr. Lynch earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Temple University and a master's degree in physics from the Drexel Institute of Technology.

A jogging enthusiast, he participated in local races and played on a softball team after he retired. He also enjoyed watching sports, especially the Flyers.

In addition to his daughter, he is survived by a son, David; daughters Rosemary Kolesar, Carol Chaney, Diane Schroettinger, Susan Wright and Doris; and 15 grandchildren. His wife died in 1987, and his son, Joseph, died in 1977.

Services are private.