Michael J. Elkind

Michael J. Elkind, Sr., 91, passed away January 15, 2014 in The Highlands at Wyomissing.

His wife, Anita (Demmler) Elkind, died May 23, 2003.

Born July 23, 1922, in Detroit, MI he was a son of the late Jacob and Marguerite (Ebell) Elkind.

He graduated from Detroit's Cass Technical High School in 1939. He received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Detroit in 1943 and was employed as an analytical chemist by the R.P. Scherer Corporation (Gelatin Products) until he entered the Army in 1944, serving in the Okinawa Campaign and the Philippines until 1946. He graduated with a master's degree in organic chemistry from the University of Detroit in 1948 and from Wayne University (now Wayne State) with a PhD in inorganic chemistry in 1951.

Michael was a graduate teaching assistant for four years at both universities and an instructor at Wayne State in his last year. He was elected to the Society of Sigma Xi and Phi Lambda Upsilon. Following five years in the chemical industry with DuPont's Photo Products Department, Wyandotte Chemicals (now BASF), and J.T. Baker, he joined the Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1956 where he retired in 1987 as a supervisor after 30 years of service.

He was a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and a member of Sacred Heart R.C. Church, West Reading, where he had been a Lector and Eucharistic Minister.

Michael is survived by his three sons: Michael J. Elkind, Jr., Columbus, OH; J. Peter Elkind, Chilanga, Zambia, Africa; and Richard P. Elkind, Shawnee on Delaware, PA and NYC; and his daughter, Susan E. Soar, Somers, CT. Also surviving are his two granddaughters: Hannah and Katherine.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Wednesday at 10 a.m. in Sacred Heart R.C. Church, West Reading. Burial will be in Gethsemane Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Sacred Heart Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 6217, Reading, PA 19610. Edward J. Kuhn Funeral Home, Inc., West Reading is in charge of arrangements. Online condolences may be recorded at www.kuhnfuneralhome.com.