Dad's E2 User Account

or, "Death of a Salesman" (literally, on September 22, 2006)

This is where you find the writing, scholarly, opinionated and humorous, of shaogo's late father, Henry P. Lewis.

For the sake of adhering to E2 conventions, the formatting, headings, pipelinks, hardlinks and softlinks have been added by the transcriber, shaogo, mindful of the way Mr. Lewis would have used these tools. Care has been taken not to project the transcriber's own choices, opinions, etc. onto Mr. Lewis's writing when utilizing E2's powerful linking tools.

Writings about Mr. Lewis, mostly about his struggle with cancer at the end of his life, can be found by reading the bookmarked writeups listed at the bottom of this section.

Questions? Comments? Criticism? /msg shaogo or email paul (at) asianfusion (dot) net. Kindly include "Henry Lewis" in the "Subject" line of emails so as to evade the spam filter on that system.

HENRY LEWIS'S OBITUARY:

Henry Paul "Hank" Lewis, of Ridgefield, husband of Betty (Hulet) Lewis died on (September 22, 2006) after a long and courageous battle with cancer. He was 83 years old.

Henry was born in the Bronx, New York on February 15, 1923 to Hildegarde Heimstadt Lewis and Henry P. Lewis. Mr. Lewis served his country during World War II in the 785th Anti-Aircraft Artillery.

He was stationed in the Pacific theater on the Island of Morotai, New Guinea where he was a lateral gun pointer and portable power plant operator. Mr. Lewis earned his B.S. in Marketing from New York University.

He worked as a sales training manager for the Miller-Charles Machining Company, where he'd earlier been a machine operator. Following that, he worked briefly in commercial advertising for the Jo-Lo Corporation (owners of the Popsicle service mark). His career as an industrial advertising manager began with the Superior Meter Division of the Neptune Meter Company in Brooklyn, New York; later becoming an advertising and sales training manager at Neptune's headquarters in Long Island City, New York.

A long-time resident of Queens County, New York, Mr. Lewis moved his family to Ridgefield, Connecticut when he was hired by the Burndy Corporation in Norwalk, Connecticut. Mr. Lewis was a member of the Association of Industrial Advertisers, the Connecticut chapter of The Business and Professional Advertising Association and the Ad Club of Fairfield County.

Later in his career Mr. Lewis pursued the challenges of advertising sales and sales management. He was employed by publishing companies Warren, Gorham and Lamont; McGraw-Hill and Penton/IPC Publications. He was as a sales promotion manager and producer of training videos for the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) when he retired.

Long after his retirement, Mr. Lewis was active in product development and promotion for fire safety products, including cooling vests and air systems for firefighters, and the Wicks Air System, developed to provide victims of fire in high-rise structures breathable air to prevent smoke inhalation fatalities.

Mr. Lewis acted and promoted community theater for many years, contributing his time, talent and expertise to the Brookfield Players, The Little Theater of New Milford, and the Shakespeare in the Park productions at Richter Park of Danbury.

Mr. Lewis was a member of the Unitarian-Universalist denomination. He was active in his church in leadership positions ranging from ministerial search committees to fund raising committees. He was president of the First Unitarian Church of Flushing, New York for over ten years. He was active in his denomination also at the national level. At the time of his passing, Mr. Lewis was a member of the Unitarian-Universalist Congregation of Danbury, Connecticut. He had been a member since the Congregation was housed in West Redding, Connecticut. His participation included giving lay sermons, building committee membership (focused on building their new church on Clapboard Ridge Road in Danbury) and myriad other roles as the Congregation became ensconced in their new home.

Mr. Lewis leaves behind his beloved wife of 59 years, Betty, a retired human relations lecturer and Effectiveness Training instructor; his sons Philip, a lawyer with the Los Angeles, California office of O'Melveny & Meyers; and Paul, Chief Operating officer of Szechuan Tokyo Corporation and director of its Entertainment Group in West Hartford, Connecticut; nephews and nieces in Long Island, New York and New Jersey. His beloved brothers Edmund and Kenneth predeceased him. No recapitulation of Mr. Lewis's life would be complete absent recognition of his lifelong friends Edward Wisniewski (who predeceased him) and Cleopatra Speronius Wisniewski, of Patchogue, New York, and children Lynn Pessalano and Glenn Wisniewski. A service in celebration the life of Mr. Lewis will be held on Friday, September 29th at eight o' clock in the evening at the Unitarian-Universalist Congregation of Danbury located at 24 Clapboard Ridge Road, Danbury, Connecticut. The service will be followed immediately by refreshments and a concert featuring jazz vocalist Theresa Wright and combo. Directions are available on the church's website at www.uudanbury.org <http://www.uudanbury.org/> or by calling 203-798-1994. The family has requested that donations in lieu of flowers be made to the Unitarian-Universalist Congregation of Danbury. The Kane Funeral Home, 25 Catoonah Street, Ridgefield, CT is in charge of arrangements.

Published in the Hartford Courant on 9/26/2006. Reprinted by permission.