Obituary of Lee Jon Gorson

Lee Jon “Pop” Gorson, age 85 of Venice, Florida passed away on Saturday, March 11, 2023. Lee was born in Philadelphia, PA on February 3, 1938 and lived in Southwest Philadelphia in his youth.

He met and married his wife, Mildred “Millie” in Virginia Beach, Virginia and were happily married for 57 years.

Lee attended Overbrook High School and transferred to Edward Bok Technical School. He attended Lincoln College Prep as well. He later pursued various certificate programs to obtain skills for his initial career in drafting. He was recognized by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) for piping design as well as many others. In his early career he was a mechanical engineer who worked on such historical projects as the USS Nautilus (SSN571) which was the first nuclear submarine to transit the North Pole as well as the USS Skate (SSN578) which was the first nuclear submarine to surface the North Pole, giving Russians many sleepless nights. He later worked for companies such as General Electric and moved onto United Engineers/Raytheon as part of the design team in constructing nuclear power plants across the country as well as where he retired from his career.

In his retirement, Lee worked at the Philadelphia International Airport as a security guard. Then he and his wife, Millie relocated from Ridley Park to Venice, Florida where Lee took on the monumental task as a “food packaging engineer” at Publix Super Markets. In his early years in Philadelphia, Lee was actively involved in the Masons, where he was Worshipful Master at Lodge # 659 three times.

Lee is survived by his wife, Mildred (Millie); their two sons, Carl (Deena), Jon (Sheila) as well as his grandchildren, Taylor Gorson, Megan Eger, Shane Gorson, Alyssa Gorson and Vaughn  Gorson. 

A memorial service will be held in both Venice, Florida and Philadelphia at a later date and time to be announced. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in his honor to the Wounded Warriors Project (www.woundedwarriorproject.org) or to St. Jude Children’s Hospital (www.stjude.org).  Farley Funeral Home in Venice is handling the arrangements.