Leonard Hershoff

Dateline: Sunset Beach, NC

Hershoff, Leonard, 94, formerly of Greenville, RI, Worcester, MA and Brick, NJ, passed away peacefully yesterday.  Len was predeceased by his beloved wife Mary Arouh  in 2009.  His siblings Hyman Hershoff, Solomon Hershoff, and Ida Friedman also predeceased him, leaving him as the last of his generation.

The son of Samuel and Minnie Hershoff, Len was born in Brockton, Massachusetts in 1921 and was a proud graduate with high distinction of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, class of 1943, majoring in Electrical Engineering.  A wizard with electronics and vacuum tubes who welcomed challenges, he was most satisfied by his early work in the high-voltage research laboratory at MIT, collaborating with the Lahey Clinic.  He also worked for Westinghouse, Amperex, and RCA. Len completed his career as a Development Engineer at IBM in Kingston, NY where he co-authored a patent related to CRT display tubes.  After retiring in 1983, he and Mary moved to Brick, NJ where he served on the Ocean County Older Adults Traffic Safety Council and volunteered at Brick Hospital, repairing whatever needed fixing.  He was active in various Jewish agencies and temples throughout his lifetime.

Mary and Len moved to RI in 2002 to be closer to their family, later to Massachusetts, and after Mary’s death Len came to North Carolina in 2012, where he enjoyed basking in the sun on a rocker, even in January. He leaves behind his devoted son and daughter-in-law Lawrence Hershoff and Eleanor Mulford; his loving daughter and son-in-law Andrea and Ken Johnson; his grandchildren Emily Finkel and her husband, Noah, and Gregory Johnson and his wife, Stacey; and great grandchildren, Alden and Madeline Finkel; as well as many nieces and nephews, who always remained in close touch with their Uncle Lennie.

Funeral services will be held on Friday at 9:30 a.m. in SHALOM MEMORIAL CHAPEL, 1100 New London Ave., Cranston, RI, followed by private burial at Agudas Achim Cemetery, Brockton, MA, where Len will be buried next to his dear wife Mary and near his parents, brother Sol, sister Ida, and nephew Howard. Visitors will be invited to the home of Andrea and Ken Johnson, 17 Beeching Rd., Worcester, Massachusetts on Friday from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Please omit flowers.  Memorial contributions may be made to Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester MA 01609 or San Miguel School, 525 Branch Avenue, Providence RI 02904.