A funeral Mass for Joseph Desloge Jr., a member of a prominent ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ family who worked in Latin America on efforts to improve education and family planning, will be celebrated at 10 a.m. today at the Old St. Ferdinand Shrine in Florissant. He was 84 and had lived in north ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County.
Mr. Desloge died Thursday (March 19, 2009) at his home, Beauchamp, near the Missouri River, on an estate his family has owned since 1926. His grandfather Firmin Desloge, son of a French immigrant, made a fortune in lead mining and smelting in Missouri's old Lead Belt and gave his name to Firmin Desloge Hospital, now St. Louis University Hospital. Desloge, Mo., in the Lead Belt, is named for the family.
Joseph Desloge Jr. grew up in Vouziers, the family mansion on the river bluff north of Florissant, and attended Country Day School. He joined the American Field Service early in World War II and served as a front-line ambulance driver for the British Army in North Africa and Italy, and captured 16 German soldiers in Italy. (Vouziers is the Boeing Leadership center.)
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After the war, he graduated from the Rolla School of Mines, now the Missouri University of Science and Technology, and became a director of Killark Electric Co. and Minerva Oil Co., formerly family-owned companies in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.
In 1966, he married Martha Seredynski of Little Rock, Ark.
In the 1970s, he became active in promoting the Billings Method of natural family planning in Latin America through one of his charities, the Population Planning Trust. He traveled frequently to Mexico and Central America and worked with Catholic religious orders.
In later years, he worked to improve education and employment in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. His Joseph Desloge Jr. Charitable Trust provided computers to rural schools. He traveled to Mexico several times annually and went to Coahuila three months ago.
In addition to his wife, survivors include two sons, Joseph G. Desloge of Boston and Frank Desloge of San Francisco; two daughters, Martina Desloge of University City and Cynthian Manai of Tunis, Tunisia; two sisters, Anne Desloge and Zoe Lippman, both of the North County estate; and three grandchildren.
His remains were cremated. Contributions may be made to the Old St. Ferdinand Shrine, 1 St. Francois Street, Florissant, Mo. 63031.
