Leslie Erwin Lahti, a professor emeritus of chemical engineering at the University of Toledo and community volunteer who was a former dean of engineering and chairman of the chemical engineering department at UT, died Saturday in ProMedica Ebeid Hospice Residence, Sylvania. He was 87.

He died of pneumonia and congestive heart failure, his son David Lahti said.

The elder Mr. Lahti, who had a doctorate in chemical engineering, was the dean of UT’s College of Engineering from 1980 to 1988.

He advocated for increasing the number of engineering school faculty members to account for a rapidly increasing number of students.

Mr. Lahti told The Blade in 1982 that private industry lured most potential educators away with attractive jobs and salaries.

Speaking that year to the Technical Society of Toledo on the “Crisis in Engineering Education,” he quipped that a better title might be “Why engineering deans worry a lot.”

Mr. Lahti was previously chairman of UT’s chemical engineering department from 1972 to 1980.

Also in 1972, he became professor of chemical engineering. Before that he was an associate professor of chemical engineering since 1967, the year he joined the University of Toledo after four years on the faculty of Purdue University.

After retiring as the dean of engineering, he returned to full-time teaching and research as professor of chemical engineering.

In 1990, Mr. Lahti was named professor emeritus. He continued to teach at UT until he retired permanently in 1995.

“I would say he was pretty demanding but very effective as a professor,” David Lahti said, adding that both himself and his brother Paul had their father as a professor at UT and that they both were very upset when each got a “B” in his class.

“But what I appreciated about him the most is that he often took my brothers and me on camping trips and was very patient with us,” he said.

The elder Mr. Lahti was a vice chairman of the Area Council for Technology of the Technical Society of Toledo from 1984 to 1986 and served on the board of directors of the Toledo Society of Professional Engineers from 1981 to 1990 and on the Board of Directors for Lott Industries from 1986 to 1989.

Mr. Lahti also volunteered for at least 10 years as a member of the board of directors for Luther Home of Mercy, where he was board president from 1991 to 1992; served from 1985 to 1991 on the board of directors of the Lucas County Association for Retarded Citizens, where he was chairman from 1987 to 1989; and was a member of the City of Toledo charter revision commission from 1985 to 1986.

In 1977, the Ohio Society of Engineers honored him with the Herb Thober Award as the Engineering Educator of the Year. In 1978, he was named Engineer of the Year by the Toledo Section, American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

In 1986, Mr. Lahti was named a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. A 10-year member of the institute at the time, he was recognized for his contributions to the organization and engineering education.

His professional memberships included the American Chemical Society, the American Society for Engineering Education, and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, where he had served on local and national committees.

Mr. Lahti was born July 27, 1932, on a family farm near Floodwood, Minn., to Frank and Esther Lahti, Finnish immigrants who came to the United States before World War I. Having grown up speaking Finnish, he started learning English in elementary school.

The family eventually moved to Superior, Wis., where he graduated from high school in 1950.

Mr. Lahti continued his education at what now is Trine University, graduating in 1954 with a bachelor of science degree.

He was hired at a Corning Glass plant in Albion, Mich. While there, he met Ruth Kelley, whom he married in 1956. She survives.

He later obtained a master of science degree from Michigan State University and a doctorate in chemical engineering from what now is Carnegie Mellon University, in 1958 and 1964 respectively.

In his free time, Mr. Lahti enjoyed taking his family camping to national parks and traveling with his wife in the United States and overseas.

Surviving are his wife of 63 years, Ruth Lahti; sons, David, Mark, and Paul Lahti, four grandchildren; and a great-grandson.

There will be no visitation. A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Olivet Lutheran Church, 5840 Monroe St., Sylvania.

The family suggests tributes to Luther Home of Mercy in Williston, Ohio, the church, or the Dr. Leslie E. Lahti Scholarship Fund at the University of Toledo.

First Published August 20, 2019, 4:00 a.m.