Mr. Leonard James Ortino's Obituary
Leo’s life began on May 30, 1919 with his Italian immigrant parents, Fiorina and Michael Ortino, who both wanted their children to have a strong education. Leo was the bambino of five siblings- Jack, Ann, Dom and Cy.
Leo grew up in Seneca Falls, upstate New York and graduated from Mynders Academy High School. He continued his education at City College in the field of Mechanical Engineering. It was at City College where Leo met the girl he knew would eventually be his bride on a blind date. Evangeline was an educated and stunning co-ed at Hunter College in New York City. They married on April 1, 1945. It was the day after his graduation from Officers Candidate School and became a First Lieutenant.
Soon thereafter, they moved to Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland where Leo first taught Automotive Maintenance and then Bomb Disposal for the troops during WWII. He was honorably discharged from active duty on July 27, 1949 and moved back to NYC to work at Westinghouse designing the deck elevators for aircraft carriers. It was there that Leo and Vange had their first baby, a girl, named Evangeline (Lynn) on August 17, 1947.
Soon after, Leo transferred to Westinghouse, in Pittsburgh where he finished his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon at night while working during the day. On February 2, 1950 they had their second baby girl, Stephanie. While her birth rounded out their family life- his active career was just starting to wind up.
Mechanical Engineering provided ample opportunity to crisscross the country working for numerous prestigious companies to help Leo add important skills into his repertoire. Leo worked for Beckman Instruments and helped design the first pH meter inserted directly into the heart. He worked on the ground level of the computer era with IBM writing the first ever punch card programs that ran room-sized computers. He also worked for RCA, Remington Rand, Magnavox designing the first home use synthesizer organ, Buhr Machine, Athlone, American Bauch Armor, United Technologies and Maxwell House designing the first vacuum packed coffee. Vange and the girls moved to New York, Pennsylvania, California, New Jersey, Indiana and Michigan to support Leo on his journey to success.
Leo’s rule was “Always move forward” and at each of these companies he moved up the corporate ladder all the way from Draftsman at Detecto Scale Company to finally owning his own company, Michigan Dynamics, which produced wire cloth to a host of industries throughout the world. In both China and Russia Leo broke ground and helped to set up free enterprise companies and help spread democracy. Leo’s Chinese friends then came to the United States and visited with Stephanie’s middle school students and told about all the education and training he brought to them. He did international business in Japan, India, Norway, Sweden, Italy and Germany.
After he retired, Leo had more time for recreation. Spending time with family and friends was always his first choice. He loved to travel and did so extensively with his bride to all of the 7 continents. He also took his daughters and grand children to visit their roots and distant cousins in Greece and Italy. He golfed whenever possible with his daughter Stephanie and grandson-in-law Kevin and even his great -grandson Ethan. Evangeline joined in by driving the cart. In later golfing years he designed a tool to put in and take out tees. He was always designing and making all kinds of things he needed. It always seemed like more fun than buying them. He also enjoyed making cards for family and friends on his computer for all of their special occasions.
Leo and his oldest brother Jack worked extensively on getting the Ortino family history, documented at Ellis Island at the Statue of Liberty. About that same time, his niece Shirley asked him to write a history of the Ortino Family. And, he did just that. He wrote Seneca Falls Saga. It started with his parents coming to America and ended when all of the children had moved away from Seneca Falls to pursue college, careers and get married. At the time of his passing he was working on The Bambino’s Story.
Working with his family and helping them succeed was very important to him. He emphasized and moreover provided for his children, grand children and great grand children to go to college because of his firm belief that education is always the path to success. More than anything else Leo could always be depended on for no frills, no fuss, uninhibited logic. He provided a solid quiet foundation for so many people. He took his son in law and grandson in law as his own and helped to boost them in their own business success. For so many people -even outside of the family- he listened and provided for them without even a nod of hesitation. Where there was a need he stood in. Where there was a problem he sat in quiet contemplation (not to be rushed) and came out with a solution.
There are some people in life that you feel will never leave. Leo was one of those people. Sadly for us, Leo did leave the confines of a tired well-worn body on September 21, 2012. But because of the care, love and strong hands he held all of us with, he will forever be carried in our hearts.
What’s your fondest memory of Leonard?
What’s a lesson you learned from Leonard?
Share a story where Leonard's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Leonard you’ll never forget.
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