Donald Chesley Sedberry

Donald Chesley Sedberry, affectionately known as "Chez" passed away peacefully in his sleep on September 23rd surrounded by his loving caregivers, family and friends. Don was first and foremost the type of father and mentor every child deserves. He was fun, engaged and had an extraordinary work ethic and dedication to family. Don was an insatiably curious engineer, type A personality and enthusiastic perfectionist. Once he grabbed hold of something that interested him, he'd go to great lengths to pursue his dream. He was born July 20, 1934, and grew up in a very modest third floor walk-up apartment in Brewery Town, Philadelphia. His father George instilled in him a love of all things outdoors, camping, fishing and hunting. His mother Freida taught him personal discipline and the concept that anything was possible if one worked hard and never settled for less than one was capable of. Freida's favorite saying was "The world is your oyster". Don certainly took that to heart. He had an extraordinary life full of accomplishments and myriad experiences both professionally and personally. He was well traveled having explored Europe, Asia and the Middle East. In his early childhood he loved to build model airplanes. Later in life he became an avid recreational pilot flying his family back and forth between the Philadelphia suburbs and Ocean City NJ. Always a practical joker, we can still remember him calling to us in the back seat "Do you kids see the airport yet? Keep your eyes peeled!" The "touch and gos" were always a thrill and something he was particularly fond of. He was a hunter, boater, fly fisherman, pianist, runner, amateur architect, rocket enthusiast, family man and so much more. Don had a remarkable career as an engineer having earned his Master's Degree in Engineering from Drexel while working full time at Philco Ford to support his family. At Philco Ford he was initially involved in TV manufacturing and ultimately worked his way to becoming part of the aerospace engineering team. He was proud to have worked on the design of the sidewinder missile. After Philco Ford, Don became the CEO of a medical device company in Philadelphia that specialized in blood auto-analyzers. He spent several years in Saudia Arabia working with them to refine their hospital equipment portfolio and procurement efforts. During his time in Saudi, he became quite popular with the x-pat community by mastering the art of clandestinely brewing beer in plastic tubs. Curiosity once again led him to take up a new engineering effort and in the early 1980s Chez became the CEO of an Italian owned precision instrumentation company called Max Levy Autograph. Max Levy was arguably his baby and the job he loved the most. He ended up purchasing the company from his Italian partners and successfully grew it over the 25 years he owned it. From his many projects with Raytheon, pixel enabled high-definition televisions to manufacturing one of the mirrors on the Huble telescope, Don was challenged, engaged and completely engrossed in the many complex and difficult engineering projects that were sent to him in what was usually a last-ditch effort to make something work that arguably should have been impossible. Throughout his career he was referred to as a "kindhearted bastard". He was generous and kind to a fault, yet his dedication to excellence and his Type A personality that would accept nothing less than perfection, wowed his clients and drove his beleaguered staff to roundly curse him while achieving well beyond what they thought they were capable of. He'd push, pull, mentor or drag you across his finish line. Didn't matter if you were an employee or family member. Resistance was futile. A family man through and through, Don took an intense interest in his children's careers and intellectual pursuits. He never tired of giving advice on just about everything. If he didn't know something about a subject, he would research and study until he WAS expert. He loved to argue, debate and converse. Those who loved and knew Don were blessed to have him in their lives. He will be sorely missed and is survived by his loving wife of 38 years, Sandra Sedberry, his five sons and their wives, his daughter and her husband, his 14 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren. There will be a private Celebration of Life event for immediate family members. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Don's honor to Tunnel to Towers (https://t2t.org).