Walter Yahn

Walter J. Yahn, age 87, of Fairview, passed away unexpectedly on Monday, January 4, 2016 at UPMC Hamot.

He was born in Erie, May 17, 1928, a son of the late Walter S. and Elizabeth Johnson Yahn.

He graduated from Strong Vincent High School in 1946 where he was very active in sports. He graduated from Penn State University in 1952 with a degree in engineering. He served in the artillery in the First Calvary Division in the Army in Japan with the Rank of Staff Sgt.

Mr. Yahn was an industrial engineer for Alcoa from 1952 to 1955 and then began his career with American Sterilizer where he worked until 1970. He was instrumental in the building of the Erie, Canadian, and Belgium manufacturing plants and for a year ran the manufacturing division at the Holland plant in Rotterdam. He also ran the Erie and Jamestown manufacturing divisions. In 1970, he started Erie Advanced Products and Manufacturing, now known as Advanced Finishing USA. He was a member of the National Board of S.M.E. (Society of Manufacturing Engineers) where he served on the board and also served as vice president.

He was a member of the Board of Directors of Northwest Savings Bank for 30 years and a member of their executive committee for the last 15 years, a past member of the Board of Directors of the Erie Center for the Blind, and the YMCA.

Mr. Yahn’s hobbies were tennis, golf, skiing, fishing, diving and gold prospecting. He had been prospecting in Alaska 13 times as far north as Nome. He and his son Jeff still have a gold claim in Arizona. He has over 800 hours of diving time.

Survivors include his wife of 65 years, Patricia Sontheimer Yahn; two daughters, Susan MacPherson and her husband Peter of Bluffton, SC, Cindy Grode and her husband Edward; two sons: Jeffrey Yahn and his wife Carol, Gregory Yahn and his wife Heather, all of Fairview, 12 grandchildren, 2 great grandchildren and a brother, Allen J. Yahn and his wife Barbara of Jamestown, NY.

Friends may call at the Burton Westlake Funeral Home, 3801 West 26th Street (at Powell Ave.) on Friday from 2-4 and 6-8pm. and on Saturday from 10am. until the time of service at 11am.

Memorials may be made to Presque Isle Partnership or Tom Ridge Environmental Center, 301 Peninsula Dr., Erie, PA 16505; or a charity of ones’s choice. Send condolences at www.Burtonfuneralhome.com