C. Dexter Schierenbeck, 88, manufacturer

C. Dexter Schierenbeck, 88, of Gwynedd Valley, who ran his family's Lansdale manufacturing firm before developing a business at home making rosette lapel pins, died of Alzheimer's disease Monday at home.

Mr. Schierenbeck was a cartographer in World II, serving in the Pacific, while his family business made parachutes for the war. The Dexdale Hosiery Mills had been founded by Mr. Schierenbeck's father, Ludwig, in the late 1920s.

On his 24th birthday, he was on a landing craft when it was torpedoed.

"He was simply lucky," his daughter Lynne D.S. Manganaro said. "He was on the half of the boat that stayed afloat."

After the war, Mr. Schierenbeck, a graduate of the Haverford School, earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He then joined the family business.

The firm became the Turbo Machine Co. in the 1950s, when it began manufacturing machines that made hosiery. Mr. Schierenbeck eventually became the company president. He served until the mid-1970s, when the firm was sold and moved to North Carolina.

It was then that Mr. Schierenbeck and his wife, Dorothea Millership Schierenbeck, began making the lapel rosettes that he often wore as a member of organizations such as the Mayflower Society and the Sons of the American Revolution.

The couple crafted the adornments by hand. Dexter Rosettes Inc. was soon supplying the pins to clubs, universities, and government agencies.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Schierenbeck is survived by another daughter, Susan D.; two sisters; and two grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow at St. Thomas' Episcopal Church, Whitemarsh, 610 Church Rd., Fort Washington.

Memorial donations may be made to the Haverford School Alumni Fund, 450 Lancaster Ave., Haverford, Pa. 19041.