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I wasn't sure where to post this, but this was a friend of my family's, and a hero of mine since I was just a little kid, and his contributions to aviation and the world more than speak for themselves....
JH
GREENE—Leonard Michael. November 30, 2006, age 88, of Mamaroneck, NY,
after a long and courageous battle with cancer. A 1991 inductee into
the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Greene patented hundreds of
inventions, many integral to modern aviation, including the stall
prevention devices that are now essential safety equipment on all
aircraft and have saved many thousands of lives. In 1946, he founded
the Safe Flight Instrument Corporation in White Plains, NY, one of a
very few early aviation companies still owned by its founding family.
An aerodynamicist and expert pilot, Greene was a life member of the
Society of Experimental Test Pilots and held many aviation records
and awards. In 1981, he co-founded the Corporate Angel Network, a
nonprofit that arranges free transportation to treatment for cancer
patients by using the empty seats on corporate flights. To date, the
organization has flown nearly 25,000 cancer patients to treatment
centers throughout the U.S. An avid sailor, Greene advised several
America’s Cup syndicates and then bought the two-time winner
Courageous to compete again in 1986. Sailing under the aegis of the
Yale Corinthian Yacht Club, the only undergraduate sailing club ever
to participate, the Courageous Syndicate’s 1986 run at the Cup
spearheaded Greene’s campaign to restore the Corinthian ideals of
amateur sportsmanship to the competition, and more broadly, to team
sports in general. Following the 1997 donation of Courageous to the
Museum of Yachting in Newport, RI, the famed 12-meter was named Rhode
Island’s State Yacht. Leonard Greene experienced poverty as a youth
during the Depression, and never forgot it. As a successful
businessman, he implemented innovative employment policies, barring
mandatory retirement age, actively recruiting the differently abled,
and providing profit sharing at his own manufacturing facility.
Seeking a broader forum and greater impact for his ideas, in 1974 he
founded the Institute for SocioEconomic Studies, a nonpartisan think
tank dedicated to enhancing economic and social opportunity and
improving quality of life. The Institute provides a national forum
for innovative insights and solutions to problems of economic
development, social motivation, poverty, and urban regeneration and
conducts research in these areas. Through the Institute, Greene
advocated a revolutionary change in tax policy that would extend
economic opportunity and incentives by transforming existing social
welfare spending into a generous national tax rebate. In pursuit of
these interests, he was a was a member of both the Special Committee
on Welfare & Income Maintenance and the Council on Trends &
Perspectives of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Income
Maintenance Committee of the Community Service Society and the Work
Group on Welfare Reform of the Task Force on the New York City Fiscal
Crisis. Greene was author of the books Free Enterprise without
Poverty (Norton, 1981), The National Tax Rebate: A New America with
Less Government (Regnery, 1998), and Inventorship: The Art of
Innovation (Wiley, 2001). He was president of the Institute and
active in its mission to the end. Greene graduated in 1938 from the
City College of New York with a B.S. in Chemistry, and went on to
receive the M.S. degree in Engineering, also from CCNY, before doing
postgraduate work at the Guggenheim School of Aeronautics of New York
University. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Civil Law honoris
causa by Pace University in 1977. Among his many other awards and
honors are the Flight Safety Foundation’s Air Safety Award (1949 and
1981), Award for Meritorious Service (1981), and Allied Signal Bendix
Trophy Award for Aviation Safety (1999); the National Business
Aircraft Association’s Pilot Safety Award (1961) and Award for
Meritorious Service to Aviation (1996); the Private Sector Initiative
Commendation of the President of the United States (1982 and 1984);
the Foundation for Westchester Community College’s Medallion Award
for Distinguished Achievement in Business, Science and
Humanitarianism; the Special Act Award of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency; Aviation Week & Space Technology’s Laurels Award
in the Field of Electronics (1999) and Laureate Award for Lifetime
Achievement as a Pioneer in Flight Safety, Performance and Innovation
(2001); and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Contribution to
American Innovation Award (2002). He was a man of vision who not only
imagined and developed new and better products and policies, but also
cared deeply enough about the well being of others to dare to try to
overturn the status quo and to leave the world a better place. Beyond
his gifts for invention and innovation, perhaps his most salient
quality was his capacity for enjoyment. He loved his work and his
life, and brought to both a childlike sense of fun and adventure that
gave him a special bond with children, including his own. Born in
1918 in New York City to Max and Lyn (Furman) Greene, Leonard Greene
was also preceded in death by his siblings Helen and Elliot. On
September 11, 2001, his son, Donald Freeman Greene, was killed in the
terrorist attack on United Flight 93. Leonard Greene is survived by
his children Randall A. Greene of Ledyard, CT; Bonnie Le Var of
Briarcliff Manor, NY; Laurie Baldwin of Kalispell, MT; Douglas F.
Greene of Cortez, CO; Charles F. Greene of Novato, CA; Stephen F.
Greene of Ludlow, VT; Terry Greene of Somerville, MA; and many
grandchildren and great grandchildren. He will be deeply missed by
his devoted family and friends, and by his “family” at Safe Flight,
Corporate Angel Network, and the Institute. A memorial service will
be held on Monday, December 4, at 2:00 p.m. at the Ethical Culture
Society of Westchester, 7 Saxon Wood Road, White Plains, NY
(914-948-1120). In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to
Corporate Angel Network, Inc., Westchester County Airport, One Loop
Road, White Plains, NY 10604.
JH
GREENE—Leonard Michael. November 30, 2006, age 88, of Mamaroneck, NY,
after a long and courageous battle with cancer. A 1991 inductee into
the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Greene patented hundreds of
inventions, many integral to modern aviation, including the stall
prevention devices that are now essential safety equipment on all
aircraft and have saved many thousands of lives. In 1946, he founded
the Safe Flight Instrument Corporation in White Plains, NY, one of a
very few early aviation companies still owned by its founding family.
An aerodynamicist and expert pilot, Greene was a life member of the
Society of Experimental Test Pilots and held many aviation records
and awards. In 1981, he co-founded the Corporate Angel Network, a
nonprofit that arranges free transportation to treatment for cancer
patients by using the empty seats on corporate flights. To date, the
organization has flown nearly 25,000 cancer patients to treatment
centers throughout the U.S. An avid sailor, Greene advised several
America’s Cup syndicates and then bought the two-time winner
Courageous to compete again in 1986. Sailing under the aegis of the
Yale Corinthian Yacht Club, the only undergraduate sailing club ever
to participate, the Courageous Syndicate’s 1986 run at the Cup
spearheaded Greene’s campaign to restore the Corinthian ideals of
amateur sportsmanship to the competition, and more broadly, to team
sports in general. Following the 1997 donation of Courageous to the
Museum of Yachting in Newport, RI, the famed 12-meter was named Rhode
Island’s State Yacht. Leonard Greene experienced poverty as a youth
during the Depression, and never forgot it. As a successful
businessman, he implemented innovative employment policies, barring
mandatory retirement age, actively recruiting the differently abled,
and providing profit sharing at his own manufacturing facility.
Seeking a broader forum and greater impact for his ideas, in 1974 he
founded the Institute for SocioEconomic Studies, a nonpartisan think
tank dedicated to enhancing economic and social opportunity and
improving quality of life. The Institute provides a national forum
for innovative insights and solutions to problems of economic
development, social motivation, poverty, and urban regeneration and
conducts research in these areas. Through the Institute, Greene
advocated a revolutionary change in tax policy that would extend
economic opportunity and incentives by transforming existing social
welfare spending into a generous national tax rebate. In pursuit of
these interests, he was a was a member of both the Special Committee
on Welfare & Income Maintenance and the Council on Trends &
Perspectives of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Income
Maintenance Committee of the Community Service Society and the Work
Group on Welfare Reform of the Task Force on the New York City Fiscal
Crisis. Greene was author of the books Free Enterprise without
Poverty (Norton, 1981), The National Tax Rebate: A New America with
Less Government (Regnery, 1998), and Inventorship: The Art of
Innovation (Wiley, 2001). He was president of the Institute and
active in its mission to the end. Greene graduated in 1938 from the
City College of New York with a B.S. in Chemistry, and went on to
receive the M.S. degree in Engineering, also from CCNY, before doing
postgraduate work at the Guggenheim School of Aeronautics of New York
University. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Civil Law honoris
causa by Pace University in 1977. Among his many other awards and
honors are the Flight Safety Foundation’s Air Safety Award (1949 and
1981), Award for Meritorious Service (1981), and Allied Signal Bendix
Trophy Award for Aviation Safety (1999); the National Business
Aircraft Association’s Pilot Safety Award (1961) and Award for
Meritorious Service to Aviation (1996); the Private Sector Initiative
Commendation of the President of the United States (1982 and 1984);
the Foundation for Westchester Community College’s Medallion Award
for Distinguished Achievement in Business, Science and
Humanitarianism; the Special Act Award of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency; Aviation Week & Space Technology’s Laurels Award
in the Field of Electronics (1999) and Laureate Award for Lifetime
Achievement as a Pioneer in Flight Safety, Performance and Innovation
(2001); and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Contribution to
American Innovation Award (2002). He was a man of vision who not only
imagined and developed new and better products and policies, but also
cared deeply enough about the well being of others to dare to try to
overturn the status quo and to leave the world a better place. Beyond
his gifts for invention and innovation, perhaps his most salient
quality was his capacity for enjoyment. He loved his work and his
life, and brought to both a childlike sense of fun and adventure that
gave him a special bond with children, including his own. Born in
1918 in New York City to Max and Lyn (Furman) Greene, Leonard Greene
was also preceded in death by his siblings Helen and Elliot. On
September 11, 2001, his son, Donald Freeman Greene, was killed in the
terrorist attack on United Flight 93. Leonard Greene is survived by
his children Randall A. Greene of Ledyard, CT; Bonnie Le Var of
Briarcliff Manor, NY; Laurie Baldwin of Kalispell, MT; Douglas F.
Greene of Cortez, CO; Charles F. Greene of Novato, CA; Stephen F.
Greene of Ludlow, VT; Terry Greene of Somerville, MA; and many
grandchildren and great grandchildren. He will be deeply missed by
his devoted family and friends, and by his “family” at Safe Flight,
Corporate Angel Network, and the Institute. A memorial service will
be held on Monday, December 4, at 2:00 p.m. at the Ethical Culture
Society of Westchester, 7 Saxon Wood Road, White Plains, NY
(914-948-1120). In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to
Corporate Angel Network, Inc., Westchester County Airport, One Loop
Road, White Plains, NY 10604.
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