Maxwell Pearson

MAXWELL PEARSON, 78, OF DALLASTOWN, PA Maxwell Pearson, a furniture designer for Knoll International and David Edward, Ltd., and former All-American wrestler for the University of Michigan died in Dallastown, PA, December 20 of complications from Alzheimer's disease. As a designer, he worked side by side with many of the icons of the modernist furniture movement. His 'Pearson chair' was included in the Knoll au Louvre exhibition in Paris in 1972. He was a wrestler for the University of Michigan. He won three Big Ten wrestling championships and was voted outstanding wrestler at the 1958 Big Ten wrestling Championships. In 1957 and 1958 he was an N.C.A.A. finalist. He began his wrestling career at The Hill School in Pottstown, where he won two National Prep School Wrestling Championships. He studied at the University of Michigan's School of Architecture and Design, and later at the School for American Craftsmen at the Rochester Institute of Technology. An avid outdoorsman, he loved bicycling, kayaking and hiking in the woods around his home and along the Susquehanna River, often with his cameras, photographing the south central Pennsylvania landscape. Born September 3, 1933, in Washington, D.C. He was the son of George and Teofila Pearson. He is survived by his wife Marybeth Leddy Pearson, Airville, PA, and his children, Mark Edward Pearson, Pottstown; Beth Pearson Williams, Boyertown; Eric Pearson, Beverly Hills, CA, and Michael Leddy Pearson, Airville, PA. He is also survived by four grandchildren and one great-grandchild. There will be no viewing. Cremation will take place with Burg Funeral Home, Inc., 134 W. Broadway, Red Lion. Services and burial will be private and at the convenience of the family. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the 'Frank S. Bissell '33 Wrestling Endowment,' The Hill School, 717 E. High St., Pottstown, PA 19464.