Edwin G. Abel Jr., 75, Social Security official

Edwin G. Abel Jr., 75, of Wallingford, a former Social Security Administration executive, died of sepsis Friday, May 28, at Wallingford Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

Born in Baltimore, Mr. Abel earned a bachelor's degree in economics at Western Maryland College in 1960 after training pilots at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii during his military service from 1953 to 1957.

Mr. Abel began his career with Social Security in 1960 as a claims representative trainee in Baltimore.

He became branch manager in Bennettsville, S.C., in 1968, when the South Carolina Jaycees named him its outstanding young man of the year, his son Ted said.

From 1969, he was in the agency's Philadelphia office, becoming an area director in the Office of Disability. In the 1980s, he was director of operations at the agency's Mid-Atlantic Program Service Center. He retired in 2007.

Since 1975, Mr. Abel had been a member, and for a time on the board of directors, of the Tuscarora Lapidary Society in Media, which deals with the cutting of gemstones, his son said.

Also since 1975, he had sung in the choir at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Drexel Hill, where, for the last two years, he had been on the church council.

Mr. Abel had been a member of the Swarthmore College Parents Council since 1985.

Most recently, he was a volunteer in the office of U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak (D., Pa.), helping constituents with Social Security claims.

Besides son Edwin G. III, Mr. Abel is survived by Anne, his wife of 53 years; a brother; and a grandson.

A visitation was set for 10 a.m. Thursday, June 3, at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, 600 Edmonds Ave., Drexel Hill, followed by an 11 a.m. funeral service there. Burial will be in Washington Crossing National Cemetery, Upper Makefield.