Richard Herold

HEROLD--Richard, passed away on October 23, 2007, at age 98. He was the founder and former President of Sulzer Brothers USA, a subsidiary of the Swiss multinational engineering and manufacturing firm Sulzer Brothers Ltd. Richard was born in 1909 in St. Moritz, in the Swiss Alps. He grew up in Paris, where his father directed the French business of the JP Morgan Bank. He went to school in Paris and in Switzerland, and earned a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. Richard began his career in the automobile industry in Michigan and Indiana, participating in the design of several new car engines. Hired by Sulzer Brothers, he established corporate headquarters in downtown New York, close to the shipping and textile industries, and to financial centers. The company prospered, having the right new products at the right moment. He remained President for 35 years. Richard was proud of many of the projects of Sulzer Brothers USA. Shortly after WWII began, Sulzer began large-scale production of marine diesel engines for anti-submarine destroyers escorting shipping convoys. Sulzer USA engineered the pumping plant in the Tehachapi Mountains of central California, bringing water from the Feather River to Los Angeles and San Bernadino. Sulzer developed the revolutionary projectile weaving machine, four times faster than any looms then in existence. In 1943 Richard married Johanne Randlov, from Denmark. Initially living in New York, they moved to Far Hills, New Jersey, where they lived for 40 years. After Richard's retirement, they moved to Lyme, New Hampshire, to an old farmhouse on 120 acres they discovered by chance. In 2000 they moved to an apartment at the Kendal Community in Hanover. Surviving Richard are his wife Johanne, brothers Werner Herold and Andre Herold of Zurich, Switzerland; sister Jacqueline Theves of Paris, France; son Christopher Herold of Pottersville, New Jersey; daughter Sylvie Herold of Cranbrook, Kent, England; daughter Karen Herold of Cumberland, Maine; son Robert Herold of Lexington, Massachusetts, and twelve grandchildren. A memorial celebration will occur on November 3 at 2pm in the Gathering Room at the Kendal Community, 80 Lyme Road, Hanover, NH. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Kendal C. E. Fund, 80 Lyme Road, Hanover, NH 03755.