Jules Gompertz Fleder

JULES GOMPERTZ FLEDER -

a naval architect who headed the Westlawn School of Yacht Design (now the Westlawn Institute of Marine Technology) and helped turn it into the world's foremost home-study institution for small-craft design, died Wednesday, October 3, of cancer. He was 84 and a resident of Stamford, Connecticut.

He was born April 22, 1923 at Lying In Hospital in New York City to Adel and Joseph Fleder (the family name was shortened from Fledermaus during World War I). He was raised in Mt. Vernon, New York, attended Brown University and the Germain School of Photography, studied painting at the Art Students League, and worked as a professional photographer. He served as an aerial photographer in the Army Air Corps and was stationed in the Pacific during World War II.

When the National Association of Engine & Boat Manufacturers acquired the Westlawn School in 1968, he became its president and academic supervisor. He presided over the school until 1988, serving as NAEBM's emissary to national and international boating organizations, the National Boat Show, and as a trustee of the National Home Study Council. He was a member of the New York Yacht Club, the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, and the Corinthians. He was honored by the boating industry for his outstanding contribution with the Charles F. Chapman Memorial Award in 1987. After retirement, he obtained a commercial captain's license and navigated his yacht from Connecticut to Florida along the inland waterway.

An avid reader, he devoured the novels of Patrick O'Brian, as well as history, biography, and political non-fiction; he used to bring volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica to bed. He volunteered at the Stamford police station in his seventies and also joined the CBI, a group of World War II veterans who had served in the China-Burma-India theater; he was Commander of CBI's Fairchester Basha from 2004-05.

A hockey player in high school and college, he delighted in the success of the New York Rangers when they won their first Stanley Cup in 54 years in 1994.

An elegant man who favored grey flannels and blazers, Dody (as most people called him) enjoyed presiding at the head of his family table with his wife Evelyn, attended by children and grandchildren, carving prime rib or roast duck, savoring vintage wine or Tanqueray on the rocks. A lifelong gourmet, he developed in his final months a taste for lime Jello, hamburger soup, and the local diner's apple pie. He clung stubbornly to his family, even when they exasperated him with their liberal politics, and was in turn loved and cared for by them; Jana Haimsohn moved back to their home the last year to help Dody and Evvy.

Besides Jana and Evvy, other survivors include his children Wendy Tyler of Westport, Connecticut, Rob Fleder of Briarcliff, New York, and James Fleder of Gaston, South Carolina; daughter-in-law, Marilyn Johnson, and grandchildren, K.T. Tyler, Jackson Fleder, Carolyn Fleder, and Nicholas Fleder. He also leaves a brother, Robert Fleder, of Winter Park, Florida.