Dr. George Z. Libertiny

1934 - 2017

Libertiny

Dr. George Z. who served as Principal Research Engineer at the Ford Motor Company for nearly a quarter of century and a Professor of Engineering at the University of Michigan, has died. He was 82. Libertiny died May 18, 2017 from a heart attack at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan. He leaves his wife of 60 years, Anna (Vizvardi); his son Thomas and his wife Susan; and his daughter Karen Ludden, her husband Thomas, and their children Andrew and Daniel. A native of Hungary, Libertiny fought in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 against the Soviet Union. After the revolution collapsed, Libertiny and his wife escaped from Hungary to the United Kingdom and were eventually granted immigration authorization to the United States, where he and his wife became citizens. Following their immigration, he was an Assistant Professor at the University of Miami in Florida and later became an Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology. After he left Ford, he founded Design and Manufacturing Defect Consultants in Michigan. George Zoltan Libertiny was born in Szolnok, Hungary on June 14, 1934 to Arpad Pal and Ilona (Szendrei). He received his Gold Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Budapest and went on to earn his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Strathclyde and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bristol. Libertiny was a pioneer in the field of the Fatigue Strength of Materials, as well as techniques to measure material properties through the design and manufacturing of transducers. In 1974, he was awarded a U.S. patent for a multi-axis strain gauge transducer. As a published author, he's written hundreds of books and technical articles. A long-time member and Fellow of ASME International in New York, SAE International in Michigan, and Sigma Xi, he's received numerous awards including the Ralph R. Teeter and Forest R. McFarland awards. Visitation will be Monday, May 22 from 4:30-7pm at McCabe Funeral Home, 31950 W. 12 Mile Rd., Farmington Hills. A funeral service will take place at 1:00pm, Tuesday, May 23 at Kirk in the Hills Presbyterian Church, 1340 West Long Lake Road, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, with a private burial. Donations in his name may be made to the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society.