Edward F. Labuda

Edward F. Labuda, 87, passed away peacefully on May 11th, 2025, in Florida with his loving wife and eldest son by his side. He was born on July 2, 1937, in Greensburg, PA and raised in Jeannette, PA. Preceded in death by his parents, Mary Ann and Edward Labuda, and grandson Trevor, he is survived by Gayle, his wife of 65 years, sons Edward (Mona), David (Jessica), and Richard (Heather), and grandchildren Kira, Jasmine, Tarik, Amanda, Paige, Chad, Evan, Jordan, and Nicholas. Ed and Gayle met on a blind date in their junior year of college. They were married on September 6, 1959, shared a wonderful life raising their boys in the Allentown, PA area, and enjoyed traveling the world. In his younger days, Ed loved hiking with his family and summited numerous peaks in the White Mountains, the Rockies, and elsewhere. He was particularly proud of climbing Mt. Fuji in Japan with Gayle. He was an avid tennis player and a long-time member of the Oakmont Tennis Club. In his later years he took up golf and was a long-time member of Brookside Country Club. Ed graduated from Jeannette High School in 1955 as co-valedictorian, received a BS in Physics from Case Institute of Technology in 1959, an MS in Electrical Engineering from New York University in 1961, and a PhD in Electrophysics from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1967. Ed joined AT&T Bell Labs in Murray Hill, NJ, in June of 1959, and after a 35-year career retired as Vice President, AT&T Microelectronics and Chief Operating Officer of the Photonics Business Unit. His business unit responsibilities included marketing, product planning, finance, research and development operations in Breinigsville, PA, and Murray Hill, NJ, and manufacturing operations in Reading, PA, and Clark, NJ. His technical and executive leadership work was in fiber optic devices, subsystems, and associated passive components, silicon integrated circuit technology, imaging cameras for video systems, and gas lasers. He led the product development teams for the fiber optic transmitters, receivers, and other components used in the AT&T fiber-optic terrestrial network, including the first multi-gigabit per second transcontinental transmission systems, and in the initial AT&T Trans-Atlantic & Trans-Pacific fiber optic cables. In the 1960's, along with co-workers, he developed the continuous duty argon-ion laser. He pioneered the medical applications of this laser, and with Dr. F. L'Esperance of Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in NY, adapted the laser to successfully treat diabetic retinopathy, which if untreated is a leading cause of blindness in the world. The laser systems and techniques that were developed have been used to treat well over 100 million patients worldwide, in most cases preserving their eyesight. Ed was awarded 13 patents in the field of electronic devices, and he contributed 25 papers to the technical literature. From 1994 to 1999, Ed served as Executive Director of the Photonics Technical Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), and thru 2010 he served on the Board of Directors of several high-tech start-up companies. Ed also gave his time to the community as the Treasurer of the Salisbury Township School Authority, a Board Director of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Lehigh County, a member of the Visiting Evaluation Committees for the Sherman Fairchild Physics Laboratory of Lehigh University and the Electrical Engineering Department of Virginia Tech, a member of the Kutztown University Foundation Board, and first Board Chairman of the revamped Kutztown Folk Festival. Ed was elected a Fellow of the IEEE and was a Life Fellow Member of the IEEE. He received an Outstanding Alumni Award from the School District of the City of Jeannette, PA, a Meritorious Service Award from the Case Alumni Association, a Distinguished Service Award from the IEEE Photonics Society, and the Eberly Award for Philanthropy and Volunteerism from the PA State System of Higher Education. In memory of Ed, contributions may be made to Conquer Chiari (www.conquerchiari.org, 320 Osprey Ct., Wexford, PA 15090) to fund research into Chiari malformation, a debilitating, neurological condition.