Peter Westover, a retired steel fabrication executive, died Thursday of complications from emphysema at St. Agnes HealthCare. The Relay resident was 79.

Mr. Westover was born in Surrey, England. Family members said he watched Nazi bombers attacking London during the early days of World War II, before his graduation from a flight training school. He was commissioned in the Royal Navy as a bomber pilot and flew off escort carriers. He survived the torpedoing of the HMCS Nabob in the Arctic in August 1944.

In the 1950s, he moved to Ontario, Canada. He did seasonal work, including building washing machines. A matchbook cover advertisement for a correspondence drafting course led to a career in the steel industry in Canada and later in the United States.

In the early 1960s, Mr. Westover moved to Relay. He retired in 1988 as vice president of Fingles Co. on Reisterstown Road in Baltimore.

Mr. Westover was active in Scouting in Arbutus and led an Explorer troop. He also enjoyed hunting, kayaking, horseback riding and model railroading.

A memorial service will be held at 7 p.m. Friday at St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church, 5976 Old Washington Road, Elkridge.

Survivors include his wife of 59 years, the former Mary Patricia Barth; three sons, Peter Westover II of Windsor Mill, George Westover of Westminster and Michael Westover of Catonsville; two daughters, Wendy deBracho of Acapulco, Mexico, and Jill LaFromboise of Halethorpe; a sister, Wendy Westover of London; six grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.