BERNARD M. LEADON JR.

LEADON JR., BERNARD M.

Bernard Matthew Leadon, Jr., died Tuesday, December 22, 2009 after a brief illness. He was born on November 29, 1917 in Farmington, Minnesota, the son of Bernard Matthew Leadon, Sr. and Ruth McDonnell Leadon. He was preceded in death by his parents, his sisters Mary Catherine Kramer and Phyllis Spriggs and by his wife Ann Teresa Sweetser to whom he had been married from 1946 until her death in 1994.

Bernard was a retired University of Florida professor. He earned the rank of Eagle Scout and graduated from high school in Montevideo, Minnesota and from the College of St. Thomas in Minneapolis in 1938. After working in northern California, he returned to the University of Minnesota to earn a master's degree in Aeronautical Engineering. During World War II, he worked as an airplane designer at the Curtiss-Wright research lab in Buffalo, New York. There, he helped design an early computer shortening the time to design airplane wings, which were rushed into the high velocity wind tunnel for testing and into production for the war effort. Bernard donated his prototype computer to the Smithsonian Museum a decade ago.

After the war, he married Ann Sweetser of Minneapolis, and returned to the University of Minnesota to teach engineering and complete a doctorate in Aeronautical Engineering in 1955. He insisted that the University acquire surplus military land to start the Rosemount Aero Research Lab, where he built the wind tunnel and used it for research. While working in the aerospace industry in San Diego, California, he taught engineering at San Diego State University. In 1964, he moved his family to Gainesville, Florida, to teach aerospace engineering at the University of Florida and via closed-circuit television to satellite classrooms at the Kennedy Space Center, in Orlando Central Park and in West Palm Beach. His students appreciated his personalized approach and numerous times voted him Teacher of the Year.

Bernard and Ann built their home across the park from St. Patrick's parish, where many of their 10 children attended school. Bernard loved singing around the piano, while Ann played the piano, as well as singing hymns with his booming baritone, while Ann played the organ at St. Patrick's church He sang in the St. Augustine church choir for several years after his wife's death. Bernard had an adventurous, fun-loving spirit and traveled from an early age as often as he could, whether by rail around the west or later to research labs in Europe and Japan and beyond.

He will be missed by his brother Eugene Leadon and his sister Marguerite (Patrick) Nolan, both of Minneapolis, along with many cousins, nieces and nephews. His six sons, Bernie, Chris (Carolee), Tom, Mark, Michael and Fran (Leigh) and four daughters, Mary Leadon, Monica (Curtis) Cooper, Margaret (Mark) Greenwald and Catherine Giordano are grateful for his loving guidance, optimism and support, as are his grandchildren, Ian Leadon, Katie and Alex Leadon, Cara Greenwald, Caroline and Annie Cooper, Francesco Giordano and Charlie Leadon.

A vigil service will be held on Sunday, December 27, 2009at 7:00pm at St. Patrick's Church, 550 N.E. 16th Avenue, Gainesville, Florida, following a reception beginning at 5:30 pm. A mass of Christian burial will take place at St. Patrick's Church on Monday December 28, 2009 at 11:00 am, with Father Roland Julian, celebrating, with a luncheon afterward in the church hall, followed by burial at the Evergreen Cemetery at 401 S.E. 21 Avenue, Gainesville. WILLIAMS-THOMAS FUNERAL HOME DOWNTOWN, 404 North Main Street, Gainesville, is in charge of all arrangements.

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WILLIAMS-THOMAS

DOWNTOWN

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