John Lenczyk was part of the first graduating class of UB CBE.  John earned his BS in the department, and then stayed on for his MS and PhD in chemical engineering. Upon graduation in spring of 1970, John began work in academia at the University of Akron, and was awarded tenure in the CBE department there.   After ten years in academia, John joined Goodrich R&D where he earned four U.S. patents.   He subsequently worked with ZEON when they bought his division, and he was located in one of their new R&D centers. Being a Japanese company, John travelled to Japan for reviews, and during his stay in the company earned more U.S. patents.

John is currently retired, and works with his son, who is a patent attorney, and plays golf, but his passion is tennis and he continues to play doubles 3 times a week for 2 hours. John has moved to Huron, OH to be close to his three grandsons.

“While I don’t have a UB related story, I do have one about electrical engineer and astronaut Judy Resnik.  Judy’s father lived two doors from us in Akron. At gatherings over the years I did meet Judy and was impressed. She was beautiful and smart and had a PhD in EE. Shortly after the crash [of the Space Shuttle Challenger], a memorial service was held at the synagogue in Akron. On that morning a mild earthquake hit Akron, no damage but a symbol. Akron never gets quakes. After TV reporters covered service, the Air Force was to have a flyover of four planes with one plane peeling away. But, it was an overcast and drizzling morning. Everyone was outside waiting. I thought that we will not see anything even if the planes did find us. But they did, they came in right at the tree tops. It was a great symbol. All the noise scared hundreds of pigeons out from the very large dome on the synagogue. That was a great symbol. I teared up”