James F. Machen

1929 - 2020

(News story) James F. Machen, a mechanical engineer and inventor who taught at the University of Toledo and became assistant dean of engineering, died Saturday in his West Toledo home. He was 91.

He had prostate cancer, said his wife, Mariella Machen.

Mr. Machen taught at the university through the 1990s and later received professor emeritus status.

"Jim Machen was a quality man who worked hard," said Theo Keith, a distinguished university professor emeritus. "He was a very nice man, and I think he was a very fine teacher."

Mr. Machen was a junior engineer at the former Electric Auto-Lite Co., in Toledo when he started at UT in 1954 as a part-time lecturer in engineering graphics.

He continued to work in industry, as a design engineer for Brown Trailers and a sales engineer for Toledo Scale. He had stints at consulting firms. He started a manufacturing business. A new-products column in the January, 1974, Popular Science features a Machen Products-made umbrella chair.

"Uptight for chair storage space? Here's one that folds up like an umbrella," said a paragraph beside a photo of the chair. "The bucket-seat design is suitable for sitting at a table or desk as well as for lounge use."

Those interested could reply to a Toledo post office box.

He kept in touch with UT engineering professors and the dean. He accepted an invitation to return to teaching in 1980 and kept his business as a sideline.

"He thought that would be a great opportunity, because [he] could work at the university and work on inventions," his wife said. "He enjoyed teaching, sharing what he knew. He hoped that a lot of students would be like him - curious - and would become great engineers."

Mr. Machen in 1983 was named assistant dean of the engineering college. He directed the pre-engineering program, coordinating advising, counseling, and evaluation of transfer credits for pre-engineering students.

A patent holder several times over, he was the most proud of his polymer extrusion process and the extruder, the Extrusor, his wife said. A state grant helped fund research and testing.

Born May 23, 1929, to Leona and Edwin Machem, he grew up in the Old West End and was a graduate of Scott High School.

He received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, from which he later received a master's degree in engineering. He had a master of business administration degree from UT.

In 1999, Mr. Machen donated to the Toledo Lucas County Public Library an 1852 oil painting offering a view of Toledo from Cherry and Superior streets. James Marshall, then manager of the history and genealogy department said then that the painting was "the only real view we have of Toledo prior to photography."

Its painter was William Henry Machen, a great uncle who settled in Toledo with his family in 1848 from the Netherlands. Machen Street was named in honor of the family, which owned a farm bounded by Bancroft Street, Central Avenue, Collingwood Boulevard, and Fulton Street.

Mr. Machen's mother stipulated in her will that the painting go to the library's local history department, so long as no descendants were alive.

"It isn't important that I have it. It's almost like public property, so I decided it was time," Mr. Machen told The Blade in 1999.

He was a member of Corpus Christi University Parish, where he was a lay minister, and had been a member of Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral.

Surviving are his wife, the former Mariella Mendez, whom he married Feb. 16, 1980, and a son, David Machen.

A funeral Mass will begin at 10 a.m. Thursday at Corpus Christi University Parish. Arrangements are by Ansberg-West Funeral Home.

The family suggests tributes to the Hospice of Northwest Ohio or the Cherry Street Mission.

This is a news story by Mark Zaborney. Contact him at mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.