Raymond C. Desor Sr., 84, electrical engineer

Raymond Charles Desor Sr., a retired electrical engineer who worked in highway lighting, died of heart failure Sunday at Howard County General Hospital. The Woodstock resident was 84.

He retired about a decade ago from McNeill & Baldwin, a Ritchie Highway engineering firm. He began his career designing electric street lamps to replace those lighted by gas in Baltimore's older neighborhoods.

He also designed electric motors for the draw in the Hanover Street Bridge over the Patapsco River's Middle Branch. Among his many projects were assignments at the Naval Academy in Annapolis and Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point plant. He also worked in Central America and on the West Coast.

The Baltimore native was raised in the Southwestern section of the city. He was a graduate of Polytechnic Institute and studied engineering at the Johns Hopkins University.

He enjoyed world travel.

Services were held Thursday.

Survivors include his wife of 64 years, the former Evelyn C. Geiger; a son, Raymond C. Desor Jr., and a daughter, Jeannette A. Desor, both of Ellicott City; and two grandsons.