Written in 2016 by Bruno Strauss
Bruno Strauss was born on November 12, 1926 in Germany, came to the USA in October 1938 at age 12, and died in Seattle on January 8, 2018.
When asked about his life, he would invariably answer that it was wonderful, and add, "except for the first 12 years growing up as a Jewish boy, harassed and persecuted in Nazi Germany". The "wonderful" came about in contrast with that earlier life when he discovered his new country, and lived - to the fullest! - the ideas and ideals of the "unalienable rights" of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness", of democracy and of "government of, by, and for the people".
He started school in America in 7th grade at JR. H.S. PS 115 in uptown Manhattan and, by the time he graduated in 9th grade, was the top scholar in Civics, and tied for top honors in English with his then "best friend" and future brother in law, Manfred (Mannie) Laband (who won the award for English), who had an almost identical background. Guided by their homeroom teacher, they took the examinations for the elite high schools in NYC, passed, and elected to go to Stuyvesant HS, then and still in the top 25 in the country.
Upon graduating from Stuyvesant, with WWII still raging, Bruno, 17 years old, and with some "scores to settle", enlisted in the Navy. His parents reluctantly agreed to his enlistment, in part because the Navy would send him to various schools to learn all about the intricacies of radio, radar and sonar repair, which they hoped, would provide a profession after the war. (Bruno recalls that "we were as poor as church mice, lived in a two bedroom apartment with one bedroom always rented out to help meet the rent, and I sleeping on a day couch in the living room until the day I graduated from Columbia University, married his "best friend's" kid sister Inge, and left for Seattle".)
Soon after finishing the Navy schools, the war was over, Bruno was discharged in 1946, and with the help of the GI Bill, and passing the entrance exams of Columbia U. (chosen because it was closest by Subway to where he lived), started college. Because he had worked throughout the High School Years and was part of the support of his parents, he received an extra stipend from the GI Bill which continued to go to his parents' support. Bruno had dreamed of becoming a writer of poetry, plays, novels, but when faced with the realities of family finances and obligations, he opted to continue in electronics, aiming for a BSEE. He received the BSEE in 1950, but, with no war on and 10 Million ex-GIs on the labor market, he opted to continue, graduating with an MSEE in 1951.
By then, the Korean War had started and jobs were in the offing. Bruno and Inge, "steadies since 1948" (he claims that they were secretly engaged since 1945, when he, home on Navy leave, and she, 15years old and "drop-dead gorgeous"; the engagement was secret because only he knew about it!). Bruno was interviewed by a Boeing Management Team on the Columbia campus, received a great job offer and with Inge's concurrence, accepted it.
On June 14 1951, Bruno and Inge were married at NYC City Hall, had a wedding dinner with their parents, and boarded the 20th Century LTD (train) to Chicago, transferring to the Empire Builder and arriving in Seattle after 5 days crossing the country.
At Boeing, Bruno was assigned to a Radar group to design an airborne radar for the Bomarc missile. He proved to be innovative and rapidly rose to a position of responsibility. In his words, work was FUN! But after 6 years at Boeing, he was wooed to join a startup company - which became ELDEC - as its Chief and, initially, only engineer. And there he stayed, again, innovating products and management methods, and eventually, as the company grew, rising to the position of President, and, after 36 years of FUN, retiring as Vice Chairman.
In his pre-retirement years, he devised a program to teach management to the younger generation, initially to ELDEC personnel, and eventually to members of the NW chapter of the American Electronics Association. A "workaholic", he still found time to have FUN with his growing family, four sons - Bob, Randy, Bill and Michael - hiking, skiing, camping, tennis, baseball (including coaching little league), water-skiing - and travels with Inge to Europe, various shipboard cruises, and an annual month in Maui.
He supported Inge's "activism" in promoting better education and served on the Board of "The Resource Center for the Handicapped", initiating its program to train electronic technicians. Bruno is survived by his wife, Inge, his four sons and their wives, Cynthia and Leah Strauss, Sierra Breitbeil, and nine grand grandchildren, his sister-in-law, Karen Laband, his nephews Jeff and Steven Laband, niece Amy Anderson, their spouses and offspring, plus first cousins Helma Besser, Paula Kaplan and Gunther Goldsmith - and their kith and kin -- almost all of whom would not have been born if Hitler's Germany had been completely successful in murdering Germany's Jews.