Herbert F. Wischnia, 89 years of age, of Marco Island, FL and West Hartford, CT, formerly of Stamford, CT, died Thursday, April 9, 2015. Born in Chicago, IL and was raised in Milwaukee, WI, He was the son of the late Louis and Anna (Lipshitz) Wischnia.
He leaves his beloved wife of 68 years, Ilse (Linz) Wischnia; his children, Anne W. O’Connell (Walter) of West Simsbury, CT, and Robert L. Wischnia (Anita Harbor) of Austin, TX; four grandchildren, Elizabeth Cushman and her husband Daniel, Stephanie Wilcke and her husband Gregory, Abigail Wischnia, and Beth Wischnia; and his great-grandson, Cameron Wischnia Cushman.
A registered professional engineer, Herbert graduated with a BS from Marquette University and a MS from Pennsylvania State University. He taught electrical engineering at Pennsylvania State University for 4 years and also taught as an adjunct at Illinois Institute of Technology; University of CT Graduate School; Bridgeport Engineering Institute and University of Bridgeport. Herbert held positions of research engineer and principal engineer at Askania Regulator, Raytheon, AMF and Perkin Elmer where he served as director of scientific payloads and was in charge of the Copernicus Space Telescope, the Hydrogen Alpha Space Telescope for the Skylab in orbit. Working with Princeton University, he was the principal investigator for the space experiment in searching for extra-terrestrial life using ultra-violet light on Copernicus.
Herbert was also the founder and President of Sonitrol Corporation of Central Massachusetts.
Bringing Herbert the greatest joy, was his wife and family and spending time under sail on the /Wishbone and working in his beautiful garden.
Funeral services will be held at 1:00 PM on Sunday, April 12, 2015 in the Chapel of the Weinstein Mortuary, 640 Farmington Ave., Hartford, CT with Rabbi Jay TelRav officiating. Interment will follow in Beth Israel Cemetery, Jackson St. Ext., Avon, CT. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to United States Holocaust Museum, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW, Washington, DC 20024. For further information, directions, or to sign the guest book for Herbert, please visit online at www.weinsteinmortuary.com/funerals.cfm.