Harry John Leamy III

Salem, S.C.—Harry John Leamy III, 67, died July 23, 2008 at his home in Salem, South Carolina. Leamy, the son of Harry Leamy II and Myrtle (Hogue) Leamy was born in Alton, Illinois. He attended Roxana Schools. A graduate of the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy in 1963, with a Ph.D. in metallurgy from the University of Iowa in 1967, Leamy spent one year as a post-doctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Metallurgy in Stuttgart, Germany. In 1969 he joined Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, N.J., and over two decades was awarded more than 40 patents in materials science, as well as receiving international recognition for his research into the properties of surfaces. He was president of the Materials Research Society during that group’s formative years in the early 1980s. He was a long-time resident of Summit, N.J. In 1989 Leamy was named head of AT&T Energy Systems Research & Development in Dallas, Texas. In 1992 he joined UNCC as a professor, associate dean of engineering and Director of the C.C. Cameron Applied Research Center. He was Emeritus Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science, and Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, from which he retired in 2004. His twin brother, Larry who survives him, is a professor of biology at UNCC. Leamy was preceded in death by his parents and wife, Janet Rhea Leamy, originally of Rosewood Heights, Ill. In addition to his twin brother Larry (Donna) Leamy is survived by his wife, Eileen; his son, Harry John (Emily) Leamy IV of Maplewood, N.J.; his daughters, Jennifer Rhea Leamy of New York City and Jillian (Chris) Leamy-Brooks of Indian Trail, N.C.; his brothers, Patrick (Jeanne) MacLeamy of Novato, CA and Donald (Jean) Leamy of Ventura, CA; his sisters-in-law, Judy Broughton of Memphis, TN, Jackie Gaddy of Godfrey, IL and Joyce Middleton of Short Hills, NJ; his brothers-in-law, Wes Rhea of Naperville, IL and Timothy Middleton of Short Hills; a grandson, Finn Rhea Leamy; two step-daughters, Phaedra and Jessmin Call; and nieces and nephews. Leamy will be memorialized at a Mass at Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church in Pickens, SC on Saturday, August 2, 2008. In lieu of flowers, the Leamy family asks that donations be made to Food for the Poor.