Leighton Harvey Watling

Leighton Harvey Watling passed away peacefully on November 8, 2025 in Tucson, Arizona.

Born in 1946, Harvey grew up in Downey, California where he attended Downey High School before pursuing a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from UCLA. He was a die-hard Bruin and spent his entire life as an engineer in the defense industry working for General Dynamics and Raytheon on the Phalanx defense system. His work brought him to Tucson in 1993 where he enjoyed monthly bunco groups with a tight-knit group of friends, watching college sports, and his tranquil desert home in the shadow of the Santa Catalina mountains. Every year, Harvey looked forward to spending a week with his daughters and their families at a timeshare in Del Mar, California that he had purchased for that purpose decades earlier. Harvey was known by his friends and family for his kindness, outgoing personality, sense of humor, and love of playing games.

Harvey is preceded in death by his parents, Cyril and Emma (Nuñez) Watling, and his sisters, Pamela Watling and Diane Watkins. He is survived by his daughter Laura, her husband Ed, and grandson Marco of Portland, Oregon; and by his daughter Jennifer and her husband Zachary of East Lansing, Michigan.