Leonardt Ferdinand Kreisle

Professor Emeritus Leonardt F. Kreisle Dr. Leonardt Ferdinand Kreisle, 81, a fourth generation member of the Kreisle family which has been in Austin since the 1870’s, died in his sleep on June 14, 2004. Leonardt was born in Austin on October 22, 1922, the only child of concert pianist Antonie Marianne Leonardt Kreisle and architect Edwin C. Kreisle. From early on, Leonardt aspired to teach. In 1939, he graduated third in his Austin High School class and went to study engineering at UT Austin. Before even earning his B.S. in Architectural Engineering (1944), he began teaching classes in Engineering Science Management, Engineering Science War Training, Architectural Drafting, Cantonment Design, and Engineering Drawing. Following graduation, he became an architectural engineer in the El Paso office of general contractor Robert E. McKee, doing structural design and construction supervision of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratories in New Mexico. In 1945, Leonardt returned to UT Austin where he was an Instructor and later an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and earned his Master of Mechanical Engineering degree in 1951. In 1953 he traveled to New York as Visiting Professor of Machine Design at Cornell University, and in 1955 earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Cornell. He then returned again to UT Austin where he was promoted to Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering in 1956 and to Full Professor in 1969. He taught mainly machine design courses, and established the national award winning endowed Leonardt F. Kreisle Machine Design Laboratory. For eleven years while teaching, he was the Assistant Dean of Engineering, and for one year was Undergraduate Advisor in the Mechanical Engineering Department. He was also very active in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Engineering Society for Engineering Education, holding national offices in both. Besides publishing numerous technical papers, in 1957 Dr. Kreisle wrote the widely adopted textbook, Design of Machine Members, published by John Wiley & Sons. He also created the design and color rendering of the first official seal of The University of Texas System in 1945. As he supervised the Senior Mechanical Engineering Laboratory Design Projects Program, he admired and continually stimulated the creative side in his students. Many of the design projects in this program received national and international attention. One of the most significant projects was the Synergistic Reactor, which removed all but 1-2% of sulfur dioxide and other emissions in the exhaust gases of electric power plants. Dr. Kreisle’s outstanding record of teaching at UT has been acknowledged with many awards at the Department, College and University levels. He has received the Student Engineering Council UT Austin Distinguished Advisor Award; the Student Engineering Council UT Austin Mechanical Engineering Teaching Excellence Award, the General Dynamics Corporation Teaching Excellence Award, the UT Students' Society Teaching Excellence Award; the first Chancellor's Council Outstanding Teaching Award; and the first University-wide Friar Society Commendation for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. In 1989 he was chosen by American Society of Engineering Education to receive the Fred Merryfield Design Award in recognition of his many distinguished accomplishments. Upon his retirement in 1991, Dr. Kreisle was recognized as a Professor Emeritus. In 1992, he was awarded the Mechanical Engineering Outstanding Alumnus Award for his achievements in engineering education and research in the field of mechanical engineering. In 1998, a group of his former students established the Leonardt F. Kreisle Permanent Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Mechanical Engineering, which now awards scholarships to two students each year. Dr. Kreisle was a 50-year member of the University Masonic Lodge #1190, as well as the Scottish Rite Bodies, the York Rite Bodies, and the Ben Hur Shrine. Leonardt is survived by Dr. David K. Arctur, his legally adopted son who lives in Austin, his aunt Grace Carmody in Nebraska, and by his cousins Natalie A. Kreisle; Dr. James E. Kreisle III, his wife Elizabeth, and their children in Austin; Dr. Margaret Kreisle Clark, her husband Dr. Mark Clark, and their children in Austin; Matthew Kreisle, his wife Rita, and their daughter in Austin; Helen Kreisle Holzen, her husband Dr. Thomas Holzen, and their children in Tennessee; Dr. William Kreisle, his wife Barbara, and their children in Idaho; Wesley Straw, his wife Zaira and their son in Leander; Bill Straw in Austin; Herbert and Lanita Roeser in Nebraska, Fred and Kaila Roeser in Nebraska, Lanita Leonardt in California, Elvin and Carline Denman in Nebraska, Louise Leonardt in Victoria, Texas, and Deborah and Anthony Brown in Victoria, Texas. Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, June 18th at the Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home at 3125 N. Lamar in Austin, with Rev. Ron Smith of St. David’s Episcopal Church officiating. Burial follows at the Kreisle lot in Oakwood Cemetery Annex, 1601 Comal St, Austin. Gifts in memory of Leonardt can be sent to the Leonardt F. Kreisle Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Mechanical Engineering. Checks should be made payable to The University of Texas at Austin, and sent to the Engineering Foundation, 1 University Station C2104, Austin, TX 78712-0287. Questions can be directed to Ms. Kelsey Evans at 512-471-6151. Arrangements by Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, 3125 N. Lamar, Austin, TX 78705 (512) 452-8811. You may view memorials online at wcfish.com