Leon Frederick Fidrych was born in Wilkes-Barre, PA on April 6, 1923, and died on March 14 in Lincolnshire, IL. He was preceded in death by his wife of 63 years, Mary Louise Danneker. He is survived by his two children, his son Stephen and his daughter Karin Fidrych, his daughter-in-law Pamela, one granddaughter, two step-grandchildren, and four step-great-grandchildren. He is survived by one brother Robert Fidrych. Leon (better known as Lee) graduated from Wilkes-Barre Twp High School in 1939 and then spent three years in the grocery and meat business with his brother John. He was called into the Army in WW2 and participated in the Normandy Campaign in the European theatre. After discharge as a Master Sergeant, he attended Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA, and graduated Cum Laude in Engineering in 1949.

After marrying Mary Louise, he joined General Electric Company in Schenectady, NY.

Lee's job then took him and his family to Australia where he supervised the construction of a coal-fired power plant built entirely from equipment shipped from the USA.

Lee then moved to San Jose, CA as a pioneer in the design of GE Boiling Water nuclear power plants and later as engineering manager of the Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor Project. Engineering-management assignments also took Lee and his family to Germany, Switzerland, and Schenectady, always with GE and returning to live in the San Jose and Santa Cruz, CA area. Lee retired from GE in 1985 and worked for a time as a Consultant, on requirements for future, advanced nuclear power plants. After retirement, Lee found the time for watercolor painting- the beaches of California and the pastoral scenes of Illinois.

In the year 2000, Lee and Mary Louise moved to Illinois where they lived in several locations, Huntley and Winnetka, IL, and finally Lincolnshire, IL in the Sedgebrook Independent Living Community.

A memorial mass will be held on Monday, March 27, 2023 at 11:00 am at Holy Cross Church, 724 Elder Lane, Deerfield, IL 60015.

Leon's ashes will be laid to rest at Saint Boniface Cemetery with his beloved Mary Louise in Williamsport, Pennsylvania at 1:00pm on Friday, June 16 2023.