Beloved wife, mother, grandmother and friend

Sharon K. Leming, a 28-year resident of Claremont, died at home on Sunday, November 10, 2013 after a multi-year fight with breast cancer.

Ms. Leming was born February 23, 1947 to William and Helen Jean Allen Brewer in Columbia, South Carolina. She was moved as an infant to Waynesburg, Pennsylvania where she lived until the middle of her senior year in high school, when her family moved to State College, Pennsylvania.

After graduation from high school she attended Pennsylvania State University, graduating in 1961 with a major in political science. She married Charles Fagan in 1967 and was divorced from him in 1976. She married James C. Leming in 1979. Ms. Leming earned a Master’s of Public Health degree from the University of Connecticut in 1985 and an Executive Juris Doctorate from Concord University in 2006.

Her employment included the Association of American Medical Colleges in Washington, DC. There, she designed, conducted and published the results of a study on medical school faculty practice plans, which was considered a landmark in the field. At the University of Connecticut Health Science Center in Farmington, Connecticut, she established the office for planning and special studies, bringing the health center into compliance in the area of equal opportunity employment. At the University of Southern California’s School of Medicine, she was the administrative officer of the school’s Gene Therapy program. She was a founding partner in Claremont Partners, a health care consulting firm.

Ms. Leming was involved in several community activities in Claremont, including the League of Women Voters. She was part of a team of California League of Women who traveled to Russia shortly after Perestroika to conduct a seminar on women’s involvement in the political process in the United States. Her hobbies included tennis, hiking, bird-watching and travel. Over the years, Ms. Leming visited 67 countries; her favorite was Antarctica.

She is survived by her husband, James C. Leming of Claremont; by her daughters and sons-in-law, Dianne and David Doot and family of Wethersfield, Connecticut, Janyce and Steven Vicik and family of Boxborough, Massachusetts and Andrea and David Lowey and family of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts; and by her son and daughter-in-law, Charles and Gena Leming and family of Apple Valley. The families of her four children include 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

She is also survived by her father and stepmother, William and Norma Brewer of State College, Pennsylvania; by her brothers, Patrick Brewer and family of State College, Pennsylvania, William Brewer and family of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Daniel Brewer and family of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; and by her sister, Denise O’Donnel and family of Allentown, Pennsylvania 

The family requests that donations in lieu of flowers go to the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation or to the Sharon Brewer Leming Scholarship Fund at Pennsylvania State University.

A memorial service will be held at at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, November 26, 2013 at Todd Memorial Chapel, 325 N. Indian Hill Blvd. in Claremont.