Matthew R. Chaplin | Engineer, 42

Matthew R. Chaplin, 42, of Berwyn, an engineer, died of heart failure Thursday while riding his mountain bike in Wissahickon Valley Park in Chestnut Hill.

Mr. Chaplin attended Conestoga High School. He earned a bachelor's degree from Pennsylvania State University in aerospace engineering.

For the last 17 years, he was an executive with Tozour-Trane in King of Prussia. He specialized in sales of the company's heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems for pharmaceutical company facilities. He traveled to China recently on business. He was past president of the Philadelphia chapter of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.

Mr. Chaplin enjoyed vacations in the Poconos and in Avalon, N.J., where he met his wife, Denise Carroll Chaplin.

He loved biking, she said, and recently taught his 7-year-old daughter, Caroline, to ride a two-wheeler. The weekend before he died, he, Caroline and his wife rode their bikes to Ridley Creek State Park. He had their 18-month-old son, Andrew, on a child-seat on his bike, his wife said, and was pulling their 4-year-old daughter, Claire, in a bike trailer.

In addition to his wife of 10 years and children, Mr. Chaplin is survived by his parents, Ruth and Richard Chaplin, and a brother.

The funeral was yesterday at St. David's Episcopal Church, Wayne. Memorial donations may be made to the Chaplin Children Scholarship Fund, Citizens Bank, 550 Lancaster Ave., Devon, Pa. 19333.