Leon O Silvan

We said goodbye this week to Leo Silvan, beloved husband of Janice Sweeton (Charlotte, NC), treasured father of Paul Silvan (Culpeper, VA), Judy Silvan (Cambridge, MA), and Carolyn (Alan) Berkowitz (Burke, VA), after a brief illness. Leo will be remembered for his big heart, his playful wit, his keen intellect, and his deep loyalty to those he loved, including his 7 grandchildren, Leslie & Josh Berkowitz, Simon Silvan Recht, Lindsey (Michael) Crook, Ashley (Tyler) Erb, Hayley (Dave) Wassung, and Austin Paytes; step-daughters Leslie (Norman) Paytes and Alexandra Sweeton; his brother Mark (Abby) Silvan; nephews and nieces, and many cousins. He was a “man with a plan” and always gave the best of himself to his large family and many lifelong friends.

Leo was an engineer, entrepreneur, and salesman, and a WWII Navy veteran. He was an avid amateur pilot and had many hobbies and interests over his lifetime including photography, astronomy, and RV travel. He was fortunate to do all the things on his bucket list – he earned his certified instrument pilot’s license and for a time he owned a small plane. He later bought an RV and drove across the country with Janice, and in 2017 traveled with his son Paul to see the solar eclipse. He was a fierce advocate for equality and social justice throughout his life. He volunteered regularly with his local animal shelter and gave to causes close to his heart.

Leo will be remembered with love, and the twinkle in his eye will live on in the hearts of all those who loved him.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his memory to Doctors Without Borders. [To do so, please click here, indicate that your gift is in memory of Leo Silvan, and select to notify his daughter Carolyn Berkowitz at [email protected], so his family may acknowledge your generosity.] The family will celebrate Leo’s life per his wishes in two small memorial gatherings in November, one with his Brightmore community in Charlotte, and one at the home of relatives in NYC.

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Leo was a natural storyteller and gave his children and grandchildren the gift of his life story. We want to share his words with you:

"I was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1926 just as the Great Depression was coming to an end. It was still the age of “do you have DC or AC electricity in your house?” and if you were buying a car you’d be asked “do you want a heater and do you know how to use a crank to start the car?” Yes, it was a very early age and I think all of us now in our 90’s experienced similar surroundings.

I grew up in a 3-story house where the imprint of the outhouse in the back yard could still be seen, where the icebox held a huge chunk of ice, where the furnace in the basement needed coal shoveled in several times a day and the ashes were put into what we now call garbage cans, then hauled upstairs and put out at the curb. I can still picture my mother and grandmother with their feet pedaling up and down powering the sewing machine. I’m so sorry that our children and grandchildren will never be able to smile at memories like these.

As I grew up and started school, my father Abe Silvan whose hobby was Astronomy, taught me things like the names of the planets, distance to the sun, the Big and Little Dippers and other constellations. By the time I was 8 or 9, I knew quite a lot about the sky and people began to think I was quite smart. My very sweet mother, Rose Silvan started to think that her son Leo must be brilliant. She pestered the Principal of my school and somehow got her “Genius Son Leo” to skip the 3rd grade and half of 4th grade.

When I was 9 or 10, Brooklyn was hit with a huge and ongoing epidemic of Infantile Paralysis, so our family was lucky enough to move to a suburb of NYC (Mamaroneck, NY) and I was put into the second half of 4th grade. To make a long story a little shorter, skipping grades (for reasons I was never told) left me to graduate from High School at the tender age of 15. My High School years were not very good -- I was the youngest kid in my classes, the shortest (I was 5’3”), and Jewish, all of which at that time made me the unfortunate target of numerous bullies.

In 1942, I was off to Virginia Tech for a BS in Metallurgical Engineering. WW II was raging, and men were being drafted very soon after they signed up for the draft at age 18, so I left college and joined the Navy the day before my 18th birthday. I was sent to Radar and Radio School and by the time my schooling was over, we had won the war. I was sent to the Philippines where I was on a Landing Craft Tank and became a Radioman 3/C. My ship was busy loading up all sorts of US Tanks, Jeeps, and arms, which the US didn’t want to leave in the Philippine Islands. It would cost more to ship the equipment back to the States, so we sailed out into the ocean on a daily basis to dump an endless supply of weapons into the sea. Our ship also picked up Japanese soldiers who were still in the jungles of the Philippines (not knowing or believing that the war was over) and took them to their ships, which would take them back to Japan.

After being discharged from the Navy in 1946, I returned to Virginia Tech and finished my BS in Metallurgical Engineering and then went to Penn State where I got an MS in Metallurgy. After college I worked as an engineer at Curtis Wright Corp. (aircraft engine manufacturer), then at other organizations including starting up one of my own called Electro Miniatures. After selling EM, I worked for many years at a company in NJ called Techniques, manufacturing electronic products such as printed circuit boards and slip rings.

I became licensed as an Instrument rated Pilot and owned a Beech Musketeer single engine plane in the 70’s, and also owned and drove the country in a 32 ft. Pace Arrow RV in the 90’s.

I retired in 1990 after a bout of cancer, after which the doctors told me that although I had successful surgery and radiation, my cancer was a very aggressive type and it might be wise for me to retire so I could have a few good years. I sadly followed their advice. It is now 2018 and my few good years has become 28 years and I have no plans to exit.”

His short written memoir ends there. His memory will remain in our hearts and minds forever; z”l.