Donald Leavitt Sr., 81, administrator, veteran

Donald W. Leavitt Sr., 81, of Morton, a retired contract administrator who as a Marine participated in a polar expedition and fought in the Korean War, died of heart failure Thursday at Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park.

At 16, Mr. Leavitt dropped out of Yeadon High School to join the Marine Corps. In 1946 and 1947, he served aboard the aircraft carrier Philippine Sea in a convoy of ships on an expedition to Antarctica, Operation Highjump, commanded by Rear Adm. Richard E. Byrd. Mr. Leavitt also helped organize the 50th anniversary of the expedition and arranged for a plaque commemorating Operation Highjump to be displayed at a military base on Antarctica.

During the Korean War, Mr. Leavitt served with the First Marine Division. In September 1950, he participated in the Inchon Landing, an amphibious operation to recapture Seoul and cut off supplies to the North Korean People's Army.

In November and December of 1950, he fought Chinese communist troops from the People's Liberation Army in the Chosin Reservoir Campaign in Korea. The poorly equipped Marines endured bitter cold. When Mr. Leavitt's division was evacuated, he had to remain behind overnight in a disabled truck. "He always said it was the longest night of his life," his wife, Mary Quinn Leavitt, said. He suffered frostbite and permanent hearing loss from the shelling, she said.

Mr. Leavitt was discharged as a sergeant in 1951. In civilian life, he was employed by Piasecki Helicopter, which later became Boeing; General Electric; Burroughs Corp.; the University of Pennsylvania; and Clifton Precision in Drexel Hill, where he was a contract administrator. While working, he took business courses at night at St. Joseph's University and Widener University. He retired from Clifton Precision in the early 1990s.

Mr. Leavitt was a volunteer with the crew restoring the Gazela, a century-old sailing ship docked on the Delaware. An amateur genealogist, he contributed research to the National Association of Leavitt Families. Members trace their ancestry to John Leavitt, who settled in Hingham, Mass., in 1636.

Mr. Leavitt and his wife had been married since 1953. They met at a USO dance in Philadelphia just before he shipped out to Korea. He and his wife and dog traveled the country in their RV and had driven the Oregon Trail and on to Alaska.

Mr. Leavitt is also survived by sons Donald Jr. and Christopher; a daughter, Mary Elizabeth DiMeglio; and five grandchildren.

The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Toppitzer Funeral Home, 2900 State Rd., Drexel Hill. Friends may call from 10 a.m. Burial with military honors will be in Arlington Cemetery, Drexel Hill.