Zenon Neumark

Zenon died peacefully at his home on March 27, 2023, at 98 years old. He was born in Lodz, Poland in 1924. At the beginning of WWII, at just 15 years old, he left his home and never saw his parents again. Over the next few years, he escaped the Nazi ghettos and camps and moved to Warsaw where he lived as a Catholic Pole and joined three resistance groups. He was later captured during the Polish Uprising of 1944, and sent to a Labor Camp in Vienna, Austria, from which he was liberated by the Russians in 1945. In 1946 he moved to Milan, Italy and studied engineering at the Politecnico di Milano. He then immigrated to the United States in 1950, and went to the University of Oklahoma where he received a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering. In 1952 he moved to Los Angeles, where he spent his career as an engineer at Hughes Aircraft Company, and where he received his Masters in Physics at University of California at Los Angeles.

After he retired from Hughes in 1991, he wrote a memoir, Hiding in the Open, about his harrowing and heroic experiences during the war. He credits his survival to both luck and the kindness of strangers who risked their own lives to help him. Until very recently, he continued to give talks about his wartime experiences at various universities, schools, and organizations around Los Angeles.

Despite experiencing incredible loss and tragedy, Zenon remained eternally optimistic. He embraced life and always had a twinkle in his eye. He enjoyed socializing with friends, meeting new people, playing chess and bridge, and eating Tiramisu. He will be remembered for his love of telling jokes, his curious mind, his large heart, and his devotion to his family.

He was married to Irene Neumark for 63 years. He is survived by his two children, Arianne Neumark and Karin (Kitty) Neumark and his three grandchildren, Alessandra, Annabel and Nicholas.