Leo Hoogenboom

1928 - 2025

Hoogenboom, Leo
JONESVILLE - Leo Hoogenboom, age 96, of Hillcrest Dr., in Ballston Lake, N.Y., passed away peacefully at home, on March 13, 2025. Born on September 21, 1928, in Utrecht, The Netherlands, Leo was the son of the late Henricus Hoogenboom and Johanna Hoogenboom-Staatsen. Outgoing, generous, and hospitable to a fault, he is greatly missed by the many people whose lives he touched.
Leo came from a long line of entrepreneurs, inventors, and engineers. He relished making new things and fixing whatever came his way. Leo came from a musical family and, as a teenager in Utrecht, played the recorder flute and made tools for Hans Coolsma, a world-class recorder maker. He earned a Master's degree in mechanical engineering at the renowned Delft University of Technology and in 1958, having been recruited by General Electric in Schenectady, N.Y., immigrated to the United States with his wife, Ada, the day after they married.
Leo was a craftsman and engineer, bringing together a theoretical education with endless practical know-how. His insatiable curiosity and tenacity led to a diverse career at GE and Mechanical Technology, Inc. (MTI) that encompassed the development of everything from precision measurement tools and steam turbines to thermal protection on NASA's Space Shuttle and the award of 11 U.S. patents in his name, beginning with Patent #3,381,190 for GE in 1965 for a Variable Capacitance Force Measuring Transducer. Under the auspices of the United Nations Development Program, in 1984, he taught at the Central Water and Power Research Station in Pune, India. Always ready to learn new things, he bought a small sailboat, a Laser, in 1972, that sparked his family's love affair with sailing that today spans generations. He built and maintained numerous boats for his family's annual vacations on Cape Cod, continuing a tradition that began in 1925 during summers in Noordwijk on the North Sea with his fifteen siblings. His love of engineering and sailing were matched only by his love of music, bicycling, languages - Dutch, English, French, and German (he was jealous of Ada's additional Latin and Greek) - the many good books that he was always reading, and a cup of tea and a stroopwafel - a Dutch waffle cookie with a layer of caramel syrup, which he strove to make perfectly with his children in the garage.
He is survived by his beloved wife and fellow adventurer, Alida Hoogenboom-Spruijt, with whom he even took up skate skiing at age 80; his six cherished children, Hilde (Mark Cruse), Paul (Carrie Seymour), Monique Seibert (Gregg Seibert), Judith, Arjen (Christia), and Christopher (Cathy Wallner); 10 grandchildren; and two great-granddaughters.
Family and friends are invited to a memorial celebration on March 22, 2025, at 2:00 p.m., at Townley & Wheeler Funeral Home, located at 21 Midline Rd., Ballston Lake, N.Y. A reception with light refreshments will follow at the funeral home.
In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests memorial donations be made to the Cure Blindness Project, www.cureblindness.org.
Arrangements are entrusted to Townley & Wheeler Funeral Home, 21 Midline Rd., Ballston Lake, and they encourage you to view and leave messages on Leo's Book of Memories at www.TownleyWheelerFH.com