By Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MADEIRA - Herbert L. Edelman, a former executive with the Levey Division of Cities Service Co. in Cincinnati, died Friday at Christ Hospital after a brief illness. The Madeira resident was 82.

Mr. Edelman spent more than 50 years in the printing ink and pigment industry.

The companies he worked for "created the color pigments that went into everything from M&Ms to bread wraps to cosmetics - the sort of things you don't really think that much about when you're looking at them," said his daughter, Meredith Raffel of Mason.

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Mr. Edelman graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1939 and enlisted in the Navy in 1942. He served aboard the USS Birmingham during World War II. He met June Strand, his future wife, while stationed in Sydney, Australia.

After the war, Mr. Edelman studied chemical engineering at Polytechnic University, Brooklyn and worked for an ink manufacturer in Florida. He moved to Montgomery to become vice president of national sales at Levey, which made and marketed ink and lithographic plates, in 1973.

Mr. Edelman moved to Ramsey, N.J., in 1980 to work for Sun Chemicals and retired to Madeira four years ago.

An amateur photographer, he enjoyed photographing flowers around the world.

"My father was one of the most well-rounded people I have ever known," his daughter said. "He was able to balance his career, his family, his love of art and exploration of new things."

He was preceded in death by a son, Mark.

In addition to his daughter, survivors include his wife of 57 years, June; another daughter, Leslie Carlotti of Greenwich, Conn.; seven grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.

A memorial service is 3 p.m. Friday at Blue Ash Presbyterian Church, 4309 Cooper Road.

Memorials: Hospice of Cincinnati, 4310 Cooper Road, Cincinnati, OH 45242.

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com