Gordon W Phillips, 88, of Mount Dora joined his wife of 63 years, to be with the Lord on Sunday, March 9, 2014. He was born Febuary 25, 1926 in Detroit, Michigan to Reverend Charles and Alice Phillips. He married the love of his life, Elaine that he met at the University of Michigan. They raised their two sons, David and Gary, in Southfield, MI before retiring on the lake in Eustis, FL in 1983. He served as a US Navy pilot and was a World War II veteran. Gordon spent his entire 33 year career in the Detroit Diesel Division at General Motors, retiring as a staff engineer. Two of his major projects included the Series 149, the largest diesel engine made at the time, and the Series 53 engine. GM always played an important role in his life and he was incredibly proud of his patent for one of the engine components. Gordon was the family historian and had a love of photos and videos. He often times had a camera in his pocket to capture all life's wonderful moments. He never threw anything away and never met a box or container that he didn't like. He had a passion for fixing things and if something broke he would use his skills to repair it. If it couldn't be repaired he would keep the parts so that he would be able to fix something else in the future. Figuring out how things operated was his true calling. Gordon lit up the lives of all the people he met (sometimes he did that by shining his flashlight collection on them). He is preceded in death by his wife, Elaine; and his sister, Mary Alice Ragland. Gordon is survived by sons David and Gary, and daughter-in-law Mary. He is also survived by Granddaughters Dana McDonald (Mike), Trisha Dillon (John), and nieces Susan Ragland, Sally Zetzer, and Nancy Massey (Mark). In lieu of flowers the family is asking that donations be made in his name to Sun City Center Hospice House.