IN LOVING MEMORY OF
Harald Von
Keszycki
July 8, 1925 – April 22, 2016
Obituary
Harald von Keszycki died on Friday, April 22, 2016 after a lengthy and courageous battle with Parkinson's disease and kidney failure. Throughout his final days he was surrounded by his loving family and dear friend Mark Shattuck.
An intimate gathering will be held in his memory in lieu of a service. Donations in his memory may be made to the National Parkinson's Foundation.
Born in Gross-Krutschen, Kreis Trebnitz, Silesia, and separated from his family during WWII, he was reunited with them in Munich after the war. Making ends meet during the post-war reconstruction, Harald worked as a travel agent for American Express. His fortunes changed when one of his repeat clients, Henry Priester of Davenport, Iowa, recognized his potential and offered him a loan of $250 and facilitated Harald's passage to America.
Shortly after emigrating to NYC in the early 1950s, Harald met his future wife, Eleanor Lathrop Starring. He and Eleanor were married on May 9, 1953 and moved to Troy, NY, where Harald attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the couple bore two children. Harald graduated in four years with a Master's degree in aeronautical engineering and began a successful career with the Lockheed corporation. The family moved to California in 1958.
A lifelong automobile enthusiast and racer, Harald was well-known for a series of Porsche and Audi racing cars he built and drove throughout his life. His famous Von K Turbo, built in the mid-1970s, is remembered and revered to this day in Porsche circles as a one-man engineering tour-de-force without equal. An accomplished driver, Harald continued racing until he was eighty years old.
Harald and Eleanor moved to Leesburg, VA in 1999, to be near their daughter and her family, settling into their home in Paeonian Springs in 2001. Their son and his family followed in 2006.
Harald was preceded in death by his parents, Walter Guenther and Irene Alexandrine von Kenschitzki, and his brother Carl Heinrich von Keszycki of Munich, Germany. Harald is survived by Eleanor, his two children, Mark von Keszycki of Great Falls, VA, and Alexine von Keszycki of Paeonian Springs, VA, and five lovely grandchildren.
An intimate gathering will be held in his memory in lieu of a service. Donations in his memory may be made to the National Parkinson's Foundation.
Born in Gross-Krutschen, Kreis Trebnitz, Silesia, and separated from his family during WWII, he was reunited with them in Munich after the war. Making ends meet during the post-war reconstruction, Harald worked as a travel agent for American Express. His fortunes changed when one of his repeat clients, Henry Priester of Davenport, Iowa, recognized his potential and offered him a loan of $250 and facilitated Harald's passage to America.
Shortly after emigrating to NYC in the early 1950s, Harald met his future wife, Eleanor Lathrop Starring. He and Eleanor were married on May 9, 1953 and moved to Troy, NY, where Harald attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the couple bore two children. Harald graduated in four years with a Master's degree in aeronautical engineering and began a successful career with the Lockheed corporation. The family moved to California in 1958.
A lifelong automobile enthusiast and racer, Harald was well-known for a series of Porsche and Audi racing cars he built and drove throughout his life. His famous Von K Turbo, built in the mid-1970s, is remembered and revered to this day in Porsche circles as a one-man engineering tour-de-force without equal. An accomplished driver, Harald continued racing until he was eighty years old.
Harald and Eleanor moved to Leesburg, VA in 1999, to be near their daughter and her family, settling into their home in Paeonian Springs in 2001. Their son and his family followed in 2006.
Harald was preceded in death by his parents, Walter Guenther and Irene Alexandrine von Kenschitzki, and his brother Carl Heinrich von Keszycki of Munich, Germany. Harald is survived by Eleanor, his two children, Mark von Keszycki of Great Falls, VA, and Alexine von Keszycki of Paeonian Springs, VA, and five lovely grandchildren.
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