William Wenzlau Obituary

WENZLAU-William Davis Wenzlau, died from complications of Alzheimers on December 18, 2007. He was born on December 16, 1924 to Russell and Gladys Wenzlau in Toledo, Ohio. After serving in the U. S. Navy during World War II, he graduated from the University of Michigan. During the time he was obtaining his Masters Degree at the University of Michigan, he also taught jet propulsion courses at the University of Toledo. He became interested in the growing plastics industry when he worked on the Geodesic Dome project with R. Buckminster Fuller and later on the Corvette prototype. In 1956, he started Wenzlau Engineering Company which made ground support equipment for the Aerospace Industry. An avid backpacker and lover of the High Sierra, as well as an accomplished black and white photographer, he took a photography course taught by Ansel Adams in a Yosemite workshop. This led to his serving on the board of the Fr iends of Photography, an organization founded by Ansel Adams to advance and support photography as an art form. In his quiet fashion, he sponsored several young photographers. As a collector, he donated photographic collections to The Huntington Library and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He leaves Sally Kinney Wenzlau, his wife of fifty-two years, his brother Russell S. Wenzlau, three sons: Robert (Julie), Charles (Victoria) and William Jr. (Cynthia) as well as nine grandchildren: Rebecca, Timothy, Margaret, Sophie, William, Thomas, Grant, Geoffrey and Annie. The family thanks the staff at Silverado who took such loving care of him. Family services are being held. Memorial contributions may be made to the Huntington Library, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108 or to Stanford University's "Alzheimer's Disease & Aging Research," 3801 Miranda Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94304. Cabot & Sons, Pasadena.