Engineer rose to V.P. at Edison

5/7/2004

W. Royse Moran, 90, a retired Toledo Edison vice president of corporate planning with interests ranging from biblical archaeology to Bach, steam locomotives, and the latest scientific research, who had a record of service to community and church, died of lung failure Wednesday in the Swan Creek Retirement Village.

Mr. Moran, formerly of Beverly Drive, was a charter resident of Swan Creek in the early 1990s and helped in the planning of the retirement village in the 1980s. He was a resident's representative on the Swan Creek board and was a former trustee of Ohio Presbyterian Retirement Services, of which Swan Creek is a subsidiary.

"He provided very little advice, but if you looked at what he was doing, the lessons were incredible," his son Stephen said. "When you look at his life, one of the things that had driven it was service."

Mr. Moran retired in 1975 from Toledo Edison, 38 years after the utility hired him as a new graduate in mechanical engineering from Purdue University. His first title was junior engineer.

"He learned everything from the ground up," his daughter, Margaret Keller, said.

He became an assistant treasurer of Toledo Edison in 1949, assistant secretary in 1951, and controller and assistant treasurer in 1957. He was named vice president-administrative services in 1965 and, nine years later, he was named vice president of corporate planning.

His duties through the years included dealing with electric rates and taxes. He made presentations to audiences of utility customers and gatherings of professionals in the utility field. He was part of the utility's venture into nuclear power and helped secure a supply of low-sulfur coal for power generation, his son said.

He was a former president of the Toledo chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Mr. Moran had many interests, his son said. He was a former president of the Toledo Torch Club, a group of professionals who present papers on their topics of extracurricular expertise for group discussion. He took part in Torch international conferences around the world.

He belonged to a local group, the members of which gave regular research reports.

"He was in many ways a Renaissance man," his son said. "He was fascinated by biblical archaeology. He had a broad-ranging curiosity.

"I marveled at his intellect. I marveled at his kindness," his son said. "I marveled at his breadth of interests and his ability to continue to study."

Mr. Moran and his wife, Audrey, were members of the Nomads Travel Club, and they'd visited the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Spain. He went to Churchill, Man., to see polar bears.

He was a founding member of Glendale Presbyterian Church and had been a leader at Collingwood Presbyterian Church.

He was a former president and chairman of the Parkview Hospital board of trustees.

He was financial manager of the Maumee Valley Girl Scout Council after retirement. Mr. Moran and his wife married in 1941. She died in 1996.

Surviving are his sons, Stephen and Weston "Buck" Moran; daughter, Margaret Keller; five grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

The body will be in the Coyle Mortuary after 2 p.m. Sunday. Services will be at 11 a.m. Monday in Collingwood Presbyterian Church.

The family suggests tributes to the life care fund at the Swan Creek Retirement Village.