Edwin אליהו Lampner Z”L was born on July 22, 1923. This website commemorates what would have been his 100th birthday.

When Ed was five years old, his mother Sarah passed away. She had recently given birth to Ed’s younger sister Rosalind. This was one of the first of many hardships he lived through as a child during the Great Depression.

He was later orphaned when his father Charles Lampner could no longer afford to take care of him, his brother Arthur and Rosalind. The three Lampner children were placed at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum in New York City.

Shuttled from foster home to foster home (some better than others), Ed at eight years old, determined that he would rely solely on himself to make it in the world.

In 1941, Ed was 18. In 1942, he was called to duty to fight for the United States in World War II. He was fascinated with mechanics and airplane design from an early age. He enlisted in the US Army Air Force and served as a Flight Engineer and Top Turret Ball Gunner in B-24 Liberator Bombers. 

Assigned to the 93rd Bomb Group/328th Bomber Squadron, he flew out of Hardwick, England. He completed 35 successful bombing missions over enemy territory, mainly Germany, with the rank of Tech. Sergeant. 

One night, he was caught stealing coal to keep a sick crew member warm in the crew quarter Nissen Hut during a frigid winter. Due to this incident, he did not receive the good conduct medal.

He earned a Presidential Group Citation, the Air Medal with Five Oak Leaf Clusters, and Four Battle Stars. 

When he was a young man, attending college was the exception amongst his family and friends. Ed was determined to further his education and attended Cooper Union in New York City with the help of the GI Bill. He worked during the day and went to classes at night. He also continued his studies at Brooklyn Poly Institute whilst working as a runner on Wall Street in the daytime. 

New York State had established the Associated Colleges of Upper New York (ACUNY) and Ed studied to become a mechanical engineer. He came to be well known in the field and managed several engineering drafting departments within major companies in the microwave industry, such as Raytheon. 

In 1948, Ed married Etta Schachner his childhood sweetheart, whom he met in the neighborhood while playing Potsy. They corresponded through V-mail while Ed was abroad during the war. They raised three children, Bryan, Cindy, and Gary. They moved from New York, to New Jersey, to Massachusetts due to Ed’s professional demands. 

Ed had a magnificent, large vegetable garden and their children recall vast harvests of Northeast crops such as corn, peas, potatoes, tomatoes and squash. (When Etta would make the family’s famous Potatonik, Ed would assist in peeling the potatoes, and everyone else would demolish it as soon as it was cool enough to eat.) Ed and Etta were also avid supporters of the Yiddish Book Center in Massachusetts and spoke the mamaloshen; they came to lead the local Yiddish club in Boca Raton producing and performing plays entirely in Yiddish.

Eventually the couple retired in Boca Raton in 1988. Ed possessed a natural talent and discovered pleasure in painting, spanning the dichotomous worlds of both engineering and art. Ed and Etta enjoyed life greatly, having grown up in the depths of the depression, they truly persevered. Despite being orphaned at five years old and drafted at 18, Ed transformed hardship into opportunity. This resilience enabled him to  attend higher education and build a life with the woman he cherished. Ed was an engineer, an artist, a gentleman farmer, a decorated war veteran, a beloved father, grandfather and husband. He was a true renaissance man and most of all, an inspiration to all that learn his story, a true embodiment of the American Dream.

Ed passed away on January 31, 2006. His memory is a blessing.

In honor of Ed’s memory and the significant impact the Salvation Army had on his life as an orphaned child, we kindly request that you consider making a donation to the Salvation Army. Your support will continue to empower and assist those in need, just as Ed was once helped by this organization.