Henry Lehmann - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Henry Lehmann was the General Manager of General Electric

General Electric

General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...

's military systems operations in Syracuse, New York and a philanthropist within the American Jewish Community.

Childhood fleeing Nazi Germany

Henry was born in Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

on August 21, 1929, the younger of two sons of comfortable German-Jewish parents Marie and Leo. Leo's mother had been born and had lived in Alsace-Lorraine

Alsace-Lorraine

The Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine was a territory created by the German Empire in 1871 after it annexed most of Alsace and the Moselle region of Lorraine following its victory in the Franco-Prussian War. The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east...

. In 1937, Henry, his parents, and his elder brother René fled the Nazi regime by moving first to Nice

Nice

Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, where they lived for 18 months, and then to São Paulo

São Paulo

São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...

, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

. In the early spring of 1941, the family received their immigration visa to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

and settled in New Orleans, Louisiana, home of Leo's cousin Mathile.

Early adulthood

Lehmann became an Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)

Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)

Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America . A Scout who attains this rank is called an Eagle Scout or Eagle. Since its introduction in 1911, the Eagle Scout rank has been earned by more than 2 million young men...

and graduated from high school in August 1944 at the age of 14. He was given a full tuition scholarship to study at Tulane University

Tulane University

Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...

's school of Electrical Engineering. While at Tulane, his family received word that Henry's Aunt, Hilda Landau, had been murdered at Auschwitz. Trying to rescue her from Europe had been the family's constant preoccupation since they had arrived in the United States.

Henry did well at Tulane, graduating second in his class of 16 in May 1948, at the age of 18. GE offered employment to the top three ranked graduates, and Henry accepted, beginning a 35 year career with General Electric

General Electric

General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...

. His first position was in Erie, PA. Henry was accepted into GE's Advanced Engineering Program, a full-time three-year in-house engineering graduate school designed in the 1930s by Robert E. Doherty to overcome the deficiencies in American engineering education, and transferred to Fort Wayne, IN. In August 1949, Henry moved to Schenectady for the final two years of GE's Advanced Engineering Program.

In February 1951, Henry married Elizabeth Ann Lichtenberg, daughter of Chester Lichtenberg, a senior manager of General Electric in Fort Wayne.

Career at General Electric

Following his completion of the Advanced Engineering Program, Henry was assigned to its staff for two years, and then assigned to the Aeronautic and Ordinance Systems group, also in Schenectady. In 1959, the family moved to Syracuse, NY, and GE's Defense Systems Department, and in 1962 the family moved again, this time to Daytona Beach, FL and GE's Apollo Support Department. Henry was Manager of Quality Assurance. In 1966, Henry headed up the Business and Professional Operation of General Learning Corporation, a joint-venture between General Electric and Time Life in Bethesda, MD. The next year, Henry became Manager of Engineering for GE's Heavy Military Electronics Department in Syracuse, NY, managing a staff of about 2,000 persons for General Manager Thomas I. Paganelli. The group developed the Marine Corps TPS-59, the Air Force FPS-117, and the Air Force MITRE radars. Henry subsequently became Manager of Manufacturing and then General Manager of a team of about 5,000. Henry retired from General Electric at the end of 1983.

Henry was CEO of GreenSpring Computers

GreenSpring Computers

GreenSpring Computers was started in 1984 as VME specialists. The original product focus was VMEbus cards for industrial automation. The company was founded by Leonard Lehmann and his father Henry Lehmann in Redwood City, California.Original product line...

in Redwood City, CA from 1989 through 1995, when it was acquired by SBS Technologies, now GE Fanuc Embedded Systems.

Philanthropy

Henry was a lay leader of the United Jewish Appeal in Daytona Beach, Florida, and later of the Jewish Federation

Jewish Federation

A Jewish Federation is a confederation of various Jewish social agencies, volunteer programs, educational bodies, and related organizations, found within most cities in North America that host a viable Jewish community...

and the United Way of America in Syracuse, NY. He was a board member and treasurer of Syracuse's inner-city Southwest Area Day Care Center, and led the development project for their facility. He served on Syracuse's Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood Federation of America , commonly shortened to Planned Parenthood, is the U.S. affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation and one of its larger members. PPFA is a non-profit organization providing reproductive health and maternal and child health services. The...

board. Henry was a founder and board member of Syracuse's Jewish congregation Young Israel - Shaarei Torah, and an early board member and treasurer of Palo Alto, California's congregation Emek Beracha. He was a founding board member and first treasurer of the Mid-Peninsula Jewish Community Day School in Palo Alto, CA (presently Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School), and board member of Yeshivat Rambam in Baltimore, MD.

Henry was also a major financial contributor to the Krieger Schechter (Jewish) Day School, the Beth Tfiloh Day School, Congregation Shomrei Emunah

Congregation Shomrei Emunah

Congregation Shomrei Emunah is a Jewish Orthodox synagogue with a membership of over 400 families. The synagogue was established in 1971 in the Greenspring neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. Rabbi Binyamin Marwick, formerly its interim rabbi, was installed as its rabbi in June 2010...

, Tulane University

Tulane University

Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...

, The Syracuse Hebrew Day School, Yeshivat Sha'alvim, Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School, and Gann Academy

Gann Academy

Gann Academy is an independent pluralistic Jewish high school located in Waltham, Massachusetts. Founded in 1997 as The New Jewish High School of Greater Boston, the school changed names in 2003 in honor of philanthropist Joseph Gann who donated $5,000,000 to the school...

External links

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