H. Sheridan Baketel

H. Sheridan Baketel Jr., 86, a retired insurance company manager, died Saturday at Bryn Mawr Hospital. He lived in Bryn Mawr. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1920, he joined Pacific Fire Insurance Co. and in 1923 became affiliated with the New York office of Union Central Life Insurance. In 1937, he transferred to Philadelphia as Union Central's manager for eastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Delaware. When he retired in 1964, he was senior partner of Baketel & DeCoursey, specialists in employee benefit and business insurance planning. He was past president of the Philadelphia Association of Life Underwriters and the Philadelphia chapter of Chartered Life Underwriters; vice president of the Pennsylvania Association of Life Underwriters and co-founder of the Philadelphia Estate Planning Council. He was recipient of the Philadelphia Association's president's award for outstanding service and a member of the Million Dollar Round Table from 1944 to 1964. He was co-founder of Life Insurance Digest. Mr. Baketel served in the military during World War II. He was a conservationist and a leader in the fight against the "Blue Route," also known as the Mid-County Expressway. He has been credited by the American Forestry Association with the discovery of the country's largest coffee tree. He was active in Dartmouth College affairs and was a member of many civic and historic groups, including the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution (S.A.R.). He was also a member of the Union League, the Merion Cricket Club and Masonic Lodge No. 51 He was married to the former Elizabeth Kimball, who died in 1973. Survivors: daughter, Barbara Leonards; a granddaughter; three grandsons, and four great-grandchildren. Services: 2 p.m. tomorrow at St. David's Episcopal Church on Valley Forge Road in Wayne. Burial will be at Old North Church in Canaan, N.H. Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) | 14 August 1984