Harry Paul Wertheimer

Clemson, SC— Harry P. Wertheimer, a retired mechanical engineer, was a bonafide renaissance man who loved music, skiing, tennis and debating the merits of ethanol-free gas. He died on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, at the Barclay in Clemson.

Born in Chicago, IL, Mr. Wertheimer was the son of the late Harry and Edith Wertheimer. He met his late wife, Dorothy Kagan Wertheimer, when he was a student at MIT in Boston and she was studying at nearby Simmons College. But their marriage almost did not happen because of his obsession with his 1953 red MG. As he wrote in a letter to his newborn grandson Simon in 2008, he became upset when Dorothy stepped on the running boards with her high heels. “She then exclaimed, ‘Which do you like better, me or the MG?’ Can you believe that your brilliant grandpa gave the wrong answer?” Needless to say, they broke up for three months. He apologized and in exchange for giving up his MG, she agreed to marry him.

Raising three children, they lived in suburban Chicago; Horseheads, N.Y.; Findlay, Ohio; Painted Post, N.Y.; and finally, Keowee Key in Salem, SC. Mr. Wertheimer was an award-winning engineer at Bendix, Autolite and lastly, Dresser Rand in Corning, N.Y. He worked for nearly 45 years and won 13 patents for engineering inventions. In 2002, he and Dorothy retired to Keowee Key in Salem, SC, and Mr. Wertheimer frequently volunteered. He served on the Keowee Key Property Owner Association Board; delivered meals to seniors for Meals on Wheels; and taught driving safety to fellow seniors.

He was an avid tennis player, water-skier, snow skier, kayaker and biker. Cars, though, remained his biggest passion. “I can still picture me singing to myself in the garage as I wrestled with the nuts and bolts,” he wrote of the time he transplanted a car engine from his daughter’s wrecked car into a different car body.

He dabbled at times in lobbying for change, particularly offering ethanol-free gas at South Carolina stations so the ethanol did not ruin car engines. He also wrote a column called “Skipper Says” all about knots for the Keowee Key newsletter, Scuttlebutt.

Mr. Wertheimer is survived by his son: Steven Wertheimer; daughter: Linda Wertheimer Mintz (Pavilk); sister: Helen Hubler; grandson: Simon Mintz; three nieces; a nephew; seven great-nieces and great-nephews; and Linda Newmark, his significant other in recent years.

In addition to his parents and wife of 60 years, Mr. Wertheimer was preceded in death by his beloved son: Kevin Lee Wertheimer.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Senior Solutions, Meals on Wheels of Upstate South Carolina or Prisma Health Hospice of the Foothills, via the Oconee Memorial Hospital Foundation

Live streaming will be available for those who are unable to attend in person. If you would like to participate virtually, please reach out to his family for additional information and access details.

A Graveside Service will be held at Rosehill Cemetery, 5800 North Ravenswood Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, on September 23, 2026, at 11:00 am, with Rabbi Steven Lowenstein.