Obituaries

He enjoyed traveling throughout the United States and Europe and often attended baseball spring training games in Florida.

His marriage to Linda L. Chaney ended in divorce.

Survivors include two children, Timothy Chaney of Tampa and Jennifer Chaney of Bethesda; his fiancee, Brenda Patterson of Rockville; his father, Clarence A. Chaney Sr. of Vero Beach, Fla.; a brother, Clarence A. Chaney Jr. of New Market; a sister, Gail Schrimpf of Jefferson City, Mo.; and one grandson.

Sheng Yen LeeChemist

Sheng Yen Lee, 82, a retired polymer chemist with NASA, died July 20 at his home at Leisure World in Silver Spring after a heart attack.

Dr. Lee was born in Xinyang, China, in Henan province and was a homeless student in Sichuan province during World War II. He received his undergraduate degree in chemistry in 1946 in China. Three years later, he became a resident of Taiwan.

He was a chemical engineer in Taiwan before coming to the United States in 1959 as a Fulbright Scholar. He completed his doctorate in chemistry at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1964 and then worked as a chemist for the Polymer Corp. in Sarnia, Ontario, from 1965 to 1968.

In 1968, he became a chemist supervisor for Harry Diamond Laboratories in Adelphi, now the Army Research Laboratory. In 1979, he moved to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, where he helped develop materials for the space shuttle heat shield. The author of numerous publications and the recipient of a number of patents, he was one of six finalists for NASA's Inventor of the Year award in 1990. He retired in 1991.

Dr. Lee was a member of many clubs and organizations in the Washington area, including the Chinese Club of Leisure World. In 1984, he founded the Chinese American Forum, a nonprofit quarterly.

His wife, Winnie Cho Lee, died in 1997.

Survivors include a daughter, May Lee Tate of Davidsonville; and two grandchildren.

Alan R. PaxsonCIA Senior Analyst

Alan R. Paxson, 59, a retired senior analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency who last year was a civilian adviser to the Iraqi government, died of cancer July 7 at Capital Hospice in Arlington. He was a resident of Centreville.

Mr. Paxson was born in Rockville but moved at age 4 to a farm outside Alma, Neb. He graduated from Hastings College in Nebraska, and did graduate work at Vanderbilt University in Nashville before moving to Northern Virginia.