David F. Eidman, a retired civil engineer with the State Highway Administration and active churchman, died of leukemia Sunday at Union Memorial Hospital. He was 72 and lived in Parkton.

Mr. Eidman, who was born and raised in Baltimore, graduated in 1948 from City College.

He earned his associate's degree from Baltimore Junior College in 1950, and his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the Johns Hopkins University School of Engineering in 1960.

In 1950, Mr. Eidman began his career with the old State Roads Commission, retiring from the State Highway Administration in 1988.

In 1956, he married Jean Marie Cooper.

"In the early years of marriage, my father promised to build my mother a home on his parents' land on Middletown Road in Parkton. In 1978, he designed the home that they moved into in 1980," said a daughter, Cynthia L.C. Sheffield of Hampstead.

A deeply religious man, Mr. Eidman had been an active member of Idlewylde United Methodist Church in Towson, and later Parke Memorial United Methodist Church in Parkton.

He volunteered preparing income taxes for senior citizens, and was a member of the Prettyboy Swingers, a square dancing club.

Mr. Eidman enjoyed growing flowers and vegetables and was an avid Orioles fan.

"My father was a really nice man who just wanted to serve God and help as many folks along the way as he could. We're having a memorial service because even in death he wanted to help people by donating his body to science," Mrs. Sheffield said.

A memorial service will be held at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow at Parke Memorial United Methodist Church, 18910 York Road, Parkton.

In addition to his wife and daughter, other survivors include a son, David R. Eidman of Columbia; another daughter, Jean E. McCloskey of Brookeville; a brother, Frederick Eidman of Valley Forge, Pa.; a sister, Georgina Shultz of Annapolis; and four grandchildren.