Samuel F. Regal
Samuel F. Regal, a former controller of Consolidated Natural Gas Co. (now Dominion), died of cancer Saturday at Passavant Retirement Community.
Mr. Regal, 96, retired in 1986 after 35 years of service. A former McCandless Township resident, he and his wife Sarah Ziegler Regal lived in Zelienople after his retirement.
Mr. Regal was born in Connoquenessing on Feb. 5, 1922, and lived in Meridian during his childhood. He graduated from Butler Senior High School in 1939.
Graduating from the family-owned Butler Business College in 1941, he worked in the auditing department of Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Co. in Butler before enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1942.
He served over three years, attaining the rank of staff sergeant, and was honorably discharged in December 1945. He received the Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medal for excellent service as communications chief of the Fourth Amphibian Tractor Battalion during three major assault landings against Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater of Operations.
He was also awarded the Combat Action Ribbon, the Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon with Bronze Star, the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with three Bronze Stars, and the World War II Victory Medal.
Mr. Regal entered Grove City College in January 1946, and graduated in 1949. He was then employed in the Pittsburgh office of the accounting firm of Price Waterhouse and Co., and lived with his wife and two children in Harmony.
He joined the internal auditing staff of Consolidated Natural Gas Co. in Pittsburgh in 1951 and was transferred to the controller's office in New York City in 1954. In 1962, he was named the New York accounting manager for a newly-formed subsidiary, and in 1972, he became assistant controller of that company and the parent company as well. Mr. Regal was transferred to the controller's office in Pittsburgh in 1974 upon the phasing-out of that office in New York. He was elected controller of both the subsidiary and the parent company in 1984.
Mr. Regal worked to adapt the company's financial accounting and reporting procedures to changes created by state and federal regulations and the Financial Accounting Standards Board. He also contributed to those changes through his active role in the American Gas Association's Accounting Principles Committee.
A member of the Harmony-Zelienople United Methodist Church, Mr. Regal had served as treasurer and member of the finance team. He also served on the board of directors of Historic Harmony and was recording secretary.
He and his wife were members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Society for many years. He was a life member of the Fourth Marine Amphibian Tractor Battalion Association, the Marine Corps League, the VFW and the 4th and 6th Marine Division Association, as well as a member of the American Legion and the NRA.
He was pre-deceased by his beloved wife, Sally, and his sister, Dorothy. He is survived by two sons and their wives, David F. and Patty Regal of Scotch Plains, N.J., and Daniel F. and Molly Regal of Abbottstown, Pa.; two daughters, Vivian Tedrow of Freehold, N.J., and Karen and Tim Reid of Toms River, N.J.; six grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and two sisters, Margaret Diebold of Riverside, Calif., and Catherine Fox of Harmony.
REGAL — Friends of Samuel F. Regal, who died on Saturday, July 14, 2018, may call from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Boylan Funeral Home, 324 E. Grandview Ave., Zelienople. The funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Harmony-Zelienople United Methodist Church, 123 N. Pittsburgh St., Zelienople.He will be laid to rest with military honors at Butler County Memorial Park.The family has suggested memorial contributions to either the Harmony-Zelienople United Methodist Church; Historic Harmony at P.O. Box 524, Harmony, PA 16037; Grace Church of Harmony at 538 Main St., Harmony, PA 16037; or to the VNA Passavant Lutheran Senior Life, 105 Burgess Dr., Zelienople, PA 16063.Expressions of sympathy may be shared with the family at www.boylanfuneralservices.com.
