Andrew LeGrand ZIMMERMAN

Andrew LeGrand Zimmerman Andrew LeGrand Zimmerman, composer of a musical praising DE and its patriots died December 30, 2003 at his home in Tanglewood, near Newark, DE. He was 73. A man with a protean creativity, he loved tailgating at Delaware Blue Hens games and rooting for his alma mater. He also was proud of his William Penn High School Class of '48, with which he celebrated many reunions. "Delaware is where..." he raised his 5 children who survive him, Bonnie Berg of Kenner, LA, Andrew Zimmerman, Jr. of Philadelphia, PA, Laura Orsic of Wilmington, Andrea Kay of Brentwood, CA and Lee Zimmerman of Hollywood. He has 5 grandchildren. Enlisting during the Korean War in 1951, Andrew LeGrand Zimmerman ran computers for the Navy in the days of hulking machines and keypunched cards. The ability to command a clanking IBM card sorter earned Andy the senior programmer position at DuPont Edge Moor, where he worked for 23 years. But the conceptual energy the Navy harnessed to manage data systems also sent him spinning down artistic pathways. Andy Zimmerman was an actor and an artist. A Life Member of the Brandywiners troupe, he was their mayor of River City and Lazar Wolf. With local theaters, Zimmerman played the titular "Man Who Came to Dinner," Big Daddy, the Cowardly Lion, and the farmer in "Charlotte's Web." For many years, Wilmingtonians heard his deep bass as Santa on Edge Moor's safety phone line, and he was a comic at First Night Wilmington three times. Appearing in over 50 industrial and educational videos-including one for the Delaware State Police, in which Zimmerman, a teetotaler and friend of Bill W., portrayed a drunk driver-he logged enough professional acting time to acquire the coveted AFTRA/SAG card. Meanwhile his irrepressible creativity found visual expression in a series of photographic collages chronicling highlights of his acting. He formed Le Grand Collage Company to distribute his work among fellow actors, his most lucrative artistic venture. Painting since the '50s, Zimmerman combined brushwork and photographic images in "Mardi Gras '93," which was exhibited in the Carvel State Office Building. His camera work and editing skills were prized by Edge Moor's "Conveyor" newsletter, his main occupation after he retired from computing. Perhaps the activity that best blended his left-brain/right-brain talents was his 10 years chairing the annual craft show at the Center for Creative Arts in Yorklyn. With warmth and humor, Andy Zimmerman accumulated many friends. In the '60s, a group of them helped him found the Newark Elks Lodge, which he twice served as Exalted Ruler and became chairman of trustees for the Tri-State Elks Association. When parts of his neighborhood were still a muskrat-burrowed swamp, he helped create the Hillside Civic Association to drain it, and when burgeoning development 40 years later, created a traffic bog on Harmony Road, Andy Zimmerman matched wits with DelDOT to shrink it. Beside Joan, his surviving wife of 50 years, Andy Zimmerman was an active member of the Republican Party. He ran for New Castle County Council in 1980 and 1992. Singing the national anthem to convene several Republican state conventions at which he was a delegate, exampled his lifelong mingling of tallying and talent for his DE home. A memorial service will be held at 11 am on Tuesday, January 6, 2004, at St. Marks United Methodist Church, 1700 Limestone Road, Stanton. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to The Center for Creative Arts, PO Box 146, Yorklyn, DE 19736; and the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center, c/o Christiana Care Foundation, PO Box 1668, Wilmington, DE 19899. To send condolences, visit www.spicer-mullikinfuneralhomes.com Arrangements by SPICER-MULLIKIN FUNERAL HOMES AND CREMATORY 302-328-2213