Kermit Schlansker (November 22, 1924 - August 10, 2018) was a frequent commentator at Ann Arbor City Council meetings.
Timeline
December 18, 2017. Schlansker speaks about solar mirrors and photovoltaics.
October 2, 2017. Schlansker speaks regarding alternate energy education in the school system and advocates expansion of the city Energy Committee.
November 16, 2015. Schlansker speaks on the topic of socialism.
November 5, 2015. Schlansker speaks about sustainability and planning 1000 years into the future.
October 5, 2015. Schlansker speaks at Ann Arbor City Council about energy efficiency and apartments.
September 21, 2015. Schlansker speaks at Ann Arbor City Council about local power generation and cogeneration.
June 3, 1969. Patent 3,448,383 "Single Frequency Communications Repeater" is issued to Francis J. Starzec, Jan Ooms, and Kermit C. Schlansker and assigned to The Bendix Corporation. (Free Patents Online)
Obituary
As published in the Ann Arbor News / MLive.
Schlansker, Kermit Charles 11/22/1924 - 8/10/2018
Ann Arbor
Kermit Charles Schlansker died Friday August 10, 2018 after a short illness. He was surrounded by family and slipped away peacefully. Kermit had a great thirst for life and in the face of many battles with serious illness, he typically won. This time his body said "no more."
He was born near Grafton, Illinois, the youngest of 4 children of Charles and Naoma Schlansker. Kermit enlisted in the army in WWII where he saw combat on his 21st birthday. After the war, in Germany he met and married Gerda Hacker and they returned to the United States. They had 4 children and, after moving around, settled in Ann Arbor to raise their family. Kermit graduated from the University of Illinois with a BS in Electrical Engineering. He spent his career working in aerospace and military defense electronics. He worked on projects such as the first moon exploration, and on the development of sophisticated military defense devices.
Kermit was always an inventor. His mind was full of ideas about how to create something new that would make the world a better place. He developed one of the first EKG heart recording devices and his prototypes were used to develop whole new areas of medical technology. For the last 25 years Kermit was consumed with addressing the potential devastation caused by human activity on the earth. He worked on alternative energy devices, plans for how communities could be organized to conserve energy, and many other issues related to our dependence on the fossil fuels that are destroying our earth.
For many years he was known in the community for his regular letters to the editor of the Ann Arbor News where he shared his thoughts and ideas about how Ann Arbor could better organize its' energy needs. In later years he became a fixture at City Council meetings where he, again, shared thoughts and ideas that he thought would benefit our city.
To his last breath Kermit was a thinker and a doer. As he spent his last years in assisted living, he wrote a book, developed new models for devices to conserve energy use and continued to speak to City Council as his health would permit. Saving the world was his passion and he didn't just talk about it.
Kermit was a complicated man who gave little thought to current trends or what people thought. He was an outsider to today's focus on material goods and wealth. He made little effort to connect to the world around him, but worried greatly about how the world would survive and support future generations. He loved classical music, bridge, nature, his family and especially his grandchildren. He was one of a kind.
He is preceded in death by his wife of 54 Years, Gerda Schlansker, and his parents and siblings. Kermit leaves behind 4 children; Julia Walden (Jerry); Michael Schlansker (Jana); Bruce Schlansker (Evelyn); and John Schlansker. He also leaves his beloved grandchildren Amanda Magee (Andrew), Steven Schlansker, Katie Schlansker, Charlie Schlansker, Emily Schlansker, Jennifer Schlansker, and great grandchildren Emily and Caroline Magee. There will be a private family service on September 15, 2018.
