Leon Louis Pippin, a committed worker for crime victims’ rights, died February 19, 2013 of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases in Atlanta, GA where he had lived for the past five years. He was 83 years old.

Mr. Pippin was born on November 17, 1929--just after the stock market crash and the Great Depression—to Leon Louis Pippin, Sr. and Eloise Sasser Pippin in Bunn, N.C. He graduated from Bunn High School in 1947. He attended one year at Mars Hill College and then joined the U.S. Navy, serving guiding aircraft landings on the Naval ship, Cabot. After four years of service in the Navy he passed through Atlanta and met his future wife, Jean Widdows, on a blind date. They both began work at the DuPont Dacron plant in Kinston, N.C. in 1952. Mr. Pippin worked first as a guard, then guard sergeant, then as a first-line supervisor in the Staple division. He worked for DuPont for thirty-three years, retiring in the spring of 1985. He spent his retirement years traveling, fishing, and doing volunteer work for N.C. Victims Compensation Commission for about twelve years and served as Chairman of the Legislative Committee. He was also one of the founders of N.C. Victims’ Assistance Network (N.C. VAN). In 1999 Gov. James B. Hunt, Jr. conferred on Mr. Pippin The Order of the Long Leaf Pine. He was also a long-time member of the Grifton Coffee Club.

Mr. Pippin is survived by his daughter Tina Pippin, son-in-law Jerry Gentry, and granddaughter Jacy Gentry Pippin in Atlanta, GA, along with his siblings, sister Claire Nelson of Elizabethtown, and brothers Wayne Pippin of Bunn and Charles Pippin of Raleigh.