I have just received this unspeakably sad news from Len Elmendorf's sister Rusty.
To Len's Friends,
I am Len's sister, Rusty. I am sorry to let you know that Len had a seizure this morning at 7:30 AM and was taken, by ambulance to the hospital, where he passed away. His wife Debbie was with him.
I wanted to give you his address in case you want to send a card, letter or flowers to his wife Debbie. The address is as follows:
Debbie Elmendorf
9797 S.E. 140 Street
Summerfield, FL 34491
I don't think that there will be a formal funeral, per Lenny's wishes. Debbie is currently dealing with details, at the funeral home and for now prefers to be alone to process her loss. I'm sure that a card, letter, or flowers would be of great comfort to her. She is still in shock and will need a lot of time to grieve.
I'm sorry to give you this sad news, in an email, but I thought you may all want to know. Please pass this email on to anyone else that may want to know. Thank you all for being Lenny's friends!!!
Rusty Elmendorf-Yamada
It's hard to know what to write about Len. I corresponded with him for many years and met him in person a number of times yet I realize that I barely knew him. Len was a man of extraordinary productivity, craftsmanship, and creative talent who seemed to me to be completely unfamiliar with the concept of "can't." Design and build a new aircraft from a blank sheet of paper and then win national prizes with it? Sure, easy. Build a Cessna 182 lookalike (Elmendorf "MyLane") completely from scratch, every last piece of it from raw materials? Absolutely, why not? Build a Jungmeister from plans, and then when no cowling is to be found just make one of concrete and use it as a mold to hand form the metal version? - No problem at all. Three weeks!
Elmendorf Special
The "MyLane"
Len's most recent creation. A Lycoming power Jungmeister replica.
N133E Pilot report
Len didn't talk about his achievements much, but at flyins around the country I learned something of just what an extraordinary man he was. The conversation would usually start when someone walked up to talk about the Jungmann. "I have a friend in Florida who is building one like this." "Really?" I would say. "Len Elmendorf?" "Yes! do you know him?" . Then the stories would start to flow. "Did you hear about the time Lenny . . . " And there were decades worth of stories about Len, his life and his aircraft. Someone really needs to document his life one day.
It has been said that it is never a tragedy when a person dies doing what they love. It is hard to imagine a person that loved what he did more than Len Elmendorf.
Blue skies Len. We are going to miss you so much.
Steve
We will miss Len at our San Diego Bucker fly-ins. We could always count on him being here and mixing with the crowd. A very quiet, unassuming and intelligent gentleman. He was definitely a master Bucker craftsman, too….. A good man!!!!
John Hickman
And from Len's Obituary:
Leonard Elmendorf passed away on March 7, 2015, from an unexpected seizure. Leonard was born on April 21, 1944, in Garden City, Michigan. Len served his country in the United States Army while stationed in Korea. When he returned home from his service, he worked as a sheet metal journeyman and then ended his work career, at General Motors, as a foreman at the springs factory.
Len was an avid pilot but he was better known as an master aircraft builder and restorer who put his personal craftsmanship in to well over 30 airplanes. In the 1960's, there was the Baby Ace, the Waco, the Bucker Jungmann, and his own design known as " Li'l Flip Flop". In the 1970's and 80's, there was the Stinson, the Skylane, the clipped wing Decathlon, a Champ, a Cub, and even a Hiller helicopter. In the 1990's and up to the present day, there were more Champs, more Cubs, another helicopter, another Waco, a couple of RV's, an original design that looked like a Cessna 182, and his crowning achievement..... a scratch built Lycoming power Bucker Jungmeister replica that he finished most recently. Len flew what he worked on and also flew all types of factory production aircraft. The one he talked about the most was the Famous Grumman Goose.