In Memoriam: the World Business Academy will miss our dear friend and colleague, Max Goldberger, who passed away in early March 2012 at the age of 88. We will remember him always as a brilliant, warm, and witty person whose life enriched all who knew him.
Max Goldberger was a brilliant physicist who worked on clean energy technology. Max grew up in the small Transylvanian village now in Romania. At 18, he was sent to a Nazi concentration camp where he spent 3 ½ years, surviving using his extraordinary facility for languages and technology.
After the war he worked on telecommunications research and development for the Romanian government, rising to a level equivalent to a brigadier. He escaped to the West on a trip to East Berlin, and made his way to the U.S. There he became a citizen and a renowned pioneer of advanced missile and rocket science, working with the Navy at China Lake.
Describing Max’s career, the Navy wrote: “His work on exotic fuels led him to champion environmentally clean energy. His international reputation led to projects for Zambia, Uganda, the Philippines, Taiwan, Somalia, Jordan, and the King of Thailand.” Max eventually moved to Hilo, where he still works on cutting edge clean energy technology.
Max’s life journey is vividly described in Friends & Enemies, Presidents & Kings by Tammy Lee McClure.
