Edwin Lemanski, aerospace engineer, dies at 98
Edwin Lemanski died peacefully in his sleep on Feb. 4 at home in Riverdale. He was 98 years old.
He was born in Bridgeport, Conn. where he attended Catholic grade school and high school. He was also a competitive swimmer and lifeguard. He attended Columbia University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in engineering, and went on to obtain a master’s degree in chemical engineering.
Thereafter he accepted a position at Lockheed Martin in Bethesda, Md. working in the field of heat transfer for spacecraft. Later, he accepted a position at General Instrument Corporation in Newark, N.J. and moved his family to Livingston, N.J. for six years. Afterward, he accepted a position at Grumman Aerospace Corporation working on the environmental control system of the lunar excursion module in the Apollo program.
For the last 30 years up until age 92 he worked as an independent engineering consultant in Manhattan and the Bronx. He continued to enjoy swimming and developed new passions for golf and birding. As an engineer, he had an early preoccupation with repairing older cars, culminating in owning a series of British Rover autos which he happily kept running.
He is survived by Romelia, his loving wife of 75 years, his son Paul, who is a physician in Albany, N.Y., his son Philip, who is the former executive director of the Udall Foundation in Tucson, Ariz. He has two grandchildren, Nicole and Brian Lemanski in Albany, N.Y.
