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<em>Lee Alexander Farmelo</em> was born in Elkland, PA, the second son of his mother, Pauline de Frank Farmelo, and the seventh son of his father, Alexander Farmelo. Both parents were hard working, first-generation Italians that operated a small grocery store in Elkland. Their main ambition was to see their children properly educated, and all eight of their sons exceeded their expectations. Lee in particular was exceptionally bright, graduating first in his class at Elkland High School, where he managed to be a star soccer player in addition to his studies, his Boy Scout activities, his chores as a delivery boy for his father’s grocery store and his duties as an altar boy in the local Catholic church (through which he became the only young person in town who understood Latin).</p>
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Lee attended Penn State University for one year before receiving an appointment to West Point. While there he pledged the Chi Phi fraternity, joined the Knights of Columbus and was a walk-on member of the freshman soccer team.</p>
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During his arrival interview at West Point Lee was asked, “Why did you seek an appointment to the Military Academy?” Lee replied with characteristic honesty, “Because it is free.”</p>
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During his four years at West Point, Lee was known by the nickname of ‘Farmer,’ which must have been derived from his name because Lee was never attached to anything agricultural. On the contrary, city life appealed to him, and he managed to make enough forays into town to earn an integral place in the ‘midnight patrol.’ His senior year biographical entry in the <em>Howitzer</em> mentioned that although he never seemed to study, he was always excused from extra studies.</p>
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Lee was a member of the Soccer Team all four years at West Point. He was a star scorer and made the All-American Soccer Team in 1959. He often recalled that his most gratifying moment was in 1959 when he led in scoring to defeat Penn State.</p>
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June 1960 was a big month in Lee’s life. He not only graduated with a BS in aeronautics, he received his commission in the Air Force and was granted an additional study program at MIT leading to a Master of Science degree. Also on graduation day, he married Judy Marshall, his high school sweetheart. They were to have three children: Lisa, Michael and Julie, during their 22 years of marriage before she died of cancer in 1982.</p>
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Lee completed his degree at MIT, was promoted to the rank of captain in the Air Force and was made test director of the first computerized USAF Command and Control System in the Pentagon. During this assignment Lee had to make many strategic decisions regarding the readiness of this pioneer computing system, often taking a stand against senior officers who wanted Lee to speed up the testing process, which might have compromised the efficacy of the entire system. Upon completion of this assignment in 1965 he retired from the Air Force and took a job with Corning Glass in Corning, NY.</p>
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From 1965 to 1979 he worked for Corning Glass, holding several management positions in manufacturing, engineering and research before being appointed Director of Systems Engineering. In 1979 he left Corning Glass to take a position with Scott Paper in Philadelphia. He made his home in Chester County, PA, where he remained for the rest of his life. From 1979 to 1992 he held several management positions at Scott, among them Director of Organizational Effectiveness and Director of Manufacturing Infor-mation Systems.</p>
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In 1984, while in Norway on business, Lee met and married the love of his life, his surviving wife and soulmate Unni Marie Farmelo from Andenes, Norway. In 1992 he left Scott to co-found Theseus Corporation, a management consulting company. Clients included, among others: Aim Management (Houston, TX), Appleton Papers (Appleton, WI), Chemical Bank New York, NY), FMC Corp (Newark, DE) and the Kingdom of Jordan. This last assignment was for the State Department on behalf of the King of Jordan to provide management training to the King’s cabinet. Lee often said that this assignment was the highlight of his career.</p>
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After retiring from Theseus Corporation, Lee taught graduate business courses part-time at DeVry University’s Philadelphia location. Also after retiring, Lee founded three men’s dialogue groups in Chester County based on the teachings of philosopher David Bohm, and still found time to pursue golf, fly his own plane, do woodworking and go fly fishing.</p>
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It is hard to characterize a man with as many talents and interests as Lee Farmelo, but in attempting to do so four characteristics stand out: (1) He was always ready to help people, friends, neighbors or whomever. He was not only willing, but capable. He was an accomplished cabinet maker, builder, electrician and plumber. (2) Lee had an amazingly open mind. As one example, he started life as an altar boy in the Catholic Church and at the end was a committed Baptist. (3) Lee was a deeply spiritual person whose thirst for knowledge was intense. He studied various philosophers, specifically the work of Ken Wilbur. (4) Lee was authentic, never forgetting his roots and always treating people with compassion and understanding.</p>
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Lee will be best remembered as a man with whom you could fish, play golf, philosophize or just hang out, who never had a friend or a neighbor that he didn’t help, and who could not stand at attention for the “Star Spangled Banner” without tears in his eyes.</p>