Dr. Werner Manheim

DR. WERNER MANHEIM, D.F.A. DR. hc. lit. (Taiwan) Professor of French and German at IPFW, 90, died Thursday, April 21, 2005, at his home. Born Feb. 17, 1915, in Lissa, Posen (today Poland), he was the son of pharmacist Martin Manheim and his wife, Else (nee Schneider). He grew up in Berlin, Germany, studied at the Jewish Teachers' Seminar and received the elementary school teaching certificate from the University of Berlin. He was able to immigrate to the United States, in 1937, as did his sister, Hilde, but their parents died in the Holocaust. Throughout his life he studied music, first in Berlin, then at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where he received the Bachelor of Music, in 1940 and the Master of Music, in 1941. Serving for over four years in military intelligence with the U. S. Army during World War II, he was stationed in Belgium, where he met his beloved wife, Mie, Eliane (nee Housiaux), who preceded him in death in 1994. Upon his return to the United States, he completed the Doctor of Fine Arts degree at Roosevelt University, in Chicago in 1950, where he studied under Dr. Rudolph Ganz. His dissertation discussed the songs of Gustav Mahler. After serving as Teaching Assistant in German at the University of California, Berkeley and at the University of Illinois in Urbana, he became Assistant Professor of German and Music at Indiana University, in East Chicago. Since 1958, he has been a professor of French and German at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne, he also taught piano and music courses at the University of Saint Francis, and gave piano recitals and served as accompanist for song recitals by his wife, an operatic soprano. An accomplished poet and author and translator, he wrote a monograph on Martin Buber for the Twayne's Series, and published 26 books of poetry in both German and English, most written in sonnet form, as well as haiku, senryu, and tanka. For his poetic work and his dedication to lyrical poetry and to literature, he received six national and intenational awards, including the United Poems Laureate International Award (Madras, India) and the Golden Poet Award (USA). On his 90th birthday, while suffering his final illness, he wrote and read aloud to his gathered friends and associates, his last poem of thankfulness for friendship and love. Shalom. No calling. Private burial at Linden-wood Cemetery. Memorials to a musical organization of the donor's choice. Arrangements by D.O. McComb & Son Lakeside Park Funeral Home, 1140 Lake Ave.