Edward F. Batutis

April 9, 2012

Edward Francis Batutis died Monday at Stonebridge retirement center, Skillman, N.J., after a protracted illness.

Born in Mahanoy City, July 4, 1924, he was the third son of Michael and Anele Sapiega Batutis.

After graduating from Minersville High School in 1942, he enlisted in the Navy and saw action in the South Pacific as a Torpedoman Second Class on the destroyer USS Franks. Ed was honorably discharged from the Navy at the end of the war and attended Penn State on the GI bill, where he earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry in June 1950.

He married the former Gertrude Kessler in 1951.

He held a variety of positions as a research chemist at Mine Safety Appliances, General Electric, and ultimately at his own consulting firm. He worked on a many scientific projects, among them a power generator left on the moon by the Apollo astronauts, and an underwater kelp farm to grow biomass as a renewable energy source. He obtained patents for an oil/water separator that cleaned bilge water from Navy ships so that it could be discharged safely into the ocean.

From 1969-70, he participated in General Electric's "Project Tektite," during which he became one of the few "aquanauts" to spend an extended time living in a habitat on the ocean floor.

He and Gertrude had four children, and helped raise two nephews and a niece in the Valley Forge area.

He was an avid fisherman and golfer, and participated in community theater productions by Forge Theater in Phoenixville, where he was a founding member, and helped with funding its current production space.

Ed served a term on the Phoenixville School Board and led Chester County Boy Scout Troop 73 for more than 10 years.

He was a member of St. Ann Roman Catholic Church for 40 years, where he served as a lector and was a choir member.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife and brothers.

Surviving are his four children, Claire Robinson and her husband, Michael, Brooklyn, N.Y., Edward J. Batutis and his wife, Susan, Newton, Mass., Cathryn Heath and her husband, John, Belle Mead, N.J., and Joseph E. Batutis and his wife, Gail, Long Island City, N.Y. He also leaves nine grandchildren and a host of friends and relatives. We will miss his easygoing nature, positive mentoring and his love of the outdoors, both land and sea.

A funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Charles Borromeo Roman Catholic Church, 47 Skillman Road, Skillman, N.J. Visitation will be held at 9:30 a.m. at the church. Interment will follow in St. Ann's Church Cemetery, Phoenixville. Kimble Funeral Home, Princeton, N.J., is in charge of arrangements. Condolences can be extended online at TheKimbleFuneralHome.com.