William T. Schwendler (April 1, 1904 - January 15, 1978 in

Farmingdale, New York Farmingdale is an incorporated village on Long Island within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York. The population was 8,189 as of the 2010 Census. The Lenox Hills neighborhood is adjacent to Bethpage State Park and the rest of the ...

) was a founder, chief

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

, executive vice-president and Chairman of the Board of the

Grumman Corporation The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a 20th century American producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman and his business partners, it merged in 1994 ...

. He and other founders of Grumman had worked together at

Loening Aeronautical Engineering Loening Aeronautical Engineering Corporation was founded 1917 by Grover Loening and Henry M. Crane produced early aircraft and amphibious aircraft beginning in 1917. When it merged with Keystone Aircraft Corporation in 1928, some of its engineer ...

until leaving to form their new company in a rented garage in December 1929. The son of a German immigrant father, Schwendler was a 1924 graduate of

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

where he was one of the school's first students of aeronautical engineering.
"Brooklyn Genealogy Information Page" In 1956, Schwendler became a trustee of NYU. He was a member of

Phi Kappa Tau Phi Kappa Tau (), commonly known as Phi Tau (), is a collegiate fraternity located in the United States. The fraternity was founded in 1906. As of November 2022, the fraternity has 161 chartered chapters, 79 active chapters, 6 Associate chapte ...

fraternity at NYU and is a charter member of the fraternity's Hall of Fame. He resided until his death on a estate on Merritts Road in

, adjacent to the

Bethpage State Park Bethpage State Park is a New York state park on the border of Nassau County and Suffolk County on Long Island. The park contains tennis courts, picnic and recreational areas and a polo field, but is best known for its five golf courses, inclu ...

Golf Course.

References

External links

Time magazine: Milestones, Jan. 30, 1978

American Society of Mechanical Engineers: Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark Paper
1904 births 1978 deaths American people of German descent Businesspeople in aviation People from Farmingdale, New York Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni 20th-century American businesspeople {{US-business-bio-1900s-stub