Garrett Edwards, 64, nuclear expert for Exelon

Garrett Dean Edwards, 64, of Kennett Square, a retired Exelon Corp. engineer and expert on nuclear power, died of a heart attack Wednesday, Feb. 15, at home.

Mr. Edwards was a member of the engineering group involved in the construction and start-up of the Limerick nuclear power plant in Montgomery County for Peco Energy Co., now part of Exelon. Unit 1 at Limerick began operating in 1984. Unit 2 was powered in 1989.

After a decade at Limerick, Mr. Edwards was plant manager at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in York County from 1993 to 1998. He then was an executive administrator at Exelon's nuclear-power headquarters in Chesterbrook.

"He was the troubleshooter whenever there was a problem," his wife, Maria Lucia Edwards, said.

After suffering a heart attack, Mr. Edwards established his own consulting firm in 2000. His clients included the U.S. government, and he was a consultant for the government's Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository, a proposed storage facility in Nevada for spent nuclear-reactor fuel and other radioactive waste.

A native of Silver Spring, Md., Mr. Edwards earned an electrical-engineering degree from Villanova University in 1970. He then was a test engineer at a Peco generating plant in Philadelphia and was with a Peco instrument and control group in Center City before joining the Limerick team.

Though his "true passion was his work," his wife said, he enjoyed spending time with his family, golfing, and reading. He was a history buff and had recently visited the battlefields at Gettysburg and Brandywine, his wife said.

As Phillies enthusiasts, Mr. Edwards and his wife attended a half-dozen games a year, hadn't missed a televised game in two years, and were planning to go to spring training in Clearwater next month, she said.

They met in Ocean City on Memorial Day weekend in 1967 and married in 1970.

Besides his wife, Mr. Edwards is survived by daughters Jennifer Morgenstern and Erin Koch; two sisters; three brothers; and five grandchildren.

A Funeral Mass will be said at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, at SS. Peter and Paul Church, 1325 Boot Rd., West Chester. Friends may call from 10 a.m. Burial will be in SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Marple Township.

Donations may be made to the American Heart Association, 1617 John F. Kennedy Blvd., Suite 700, Philadelphia 19103.