Obituary of Eric Leighton

Eric Leighton age 88 of the Beverwyck Community in Slingerlands died on Monday evening, January 12, 2015 at St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany. Born on September 28, 1926 in Duesseldorf, Germany to Berta and Jakob Wilhelm Levy. ( later, in the US, Bertha and William Leighton), and lived there until 1939. He moved to Delmar in 1964. In between he had lived in Rochester, NY for about 20 years and for periods of about 1 or 2 years, each in England, NYC, Buffalo, Ithaca, and Syracuse. After Eric's military service and graduation from the University of Buffalo in 1949, he began work as a junior accountant at the New York Public Service Commision and rose to become Director or its Office of Accounting and Utility, Finance in 1972. He was the author of a number of nationally published articles related to the economic regulation of public utilities, was frequently invited to speak on the subject, was Chairman of the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners’ Staff Committee on Accounting, a member of the Federal Communications Commission’s Telephone Industry Advisory Group, and became a recognized authority nationally,. After his retirement from the Public Service Commission in 1981, Eric consulted nationally on public utility matters in association with Coopers& Lybrand (now Price Waterhouse Coopers). He was a member of Temple Israel since he arrived in the Capital District and has served on its Board of Directors and on its Finance Committee. He also had a keen interest in the outdoors and was a founding Board member of Five Rivers Limited and Albany County Audubon Society. After his complete retirement in 1988 he spent winters in Hawaii and traveled extensively in North America and Europe and some in Asia and Africa with his beloved wife, Bernice. Eric continued this after Bernice’s death in 2006 until 2010. He was predeceased by his parents, wife, Bernice Aroeste, and daughter, Judith Donna Greenwald and is survived by his daughter, Ruth Graff, sons- in –law, Steven Graff and Daniel Greenwald, and 4 grandchiildren, Alanna Graff, Joshua Graff, Jessica Graff and Rachel Greenwald. Services at Temple Israel, 600 New Scotland Avenue Albany, NY on Thursday, January 15, 2015 at 1:00pm, Interment will follow in the Temple Israel Cemetery in Guilderland, NY. Memorial contributions may be made to Temple Israel in Albany or Fiver Rivers 56 Game Farm Road, Delmar, NY 12054. The period of mourning will be observed at the Beverwyck Community 40 Autumn Drive in Slingerlands commencing Thursday following the service of interment and will resume Thursday evening at the Stulmaker residence, 11 Middlesex Drive in Slingerlands, NY. Following the mourning period held locally the family will be observing their continued period of mourning at their respective residences.