EAA Founder Paul
Poberezny, 91, passed away today at Evergreen Retirement Village in Oshkosh,
Wisconsin, after a battle with cancer.
The Poberezny family has expressed the following: "We
deeply appreciate all the support shown to Paul and Audrey over the past five
months. As Paul often said, he considers himself a millionaire because through
aviation he made a million friends. He leaves an unmatched legacy in aviation
and can be best remembered by all the people
who discovered aviation through his inspiration to create EAA. We also thank
you for respecting our family's privacy during this time."
-EAA Facebook image-
Only private family services are scheduled at this time. Memorials in honor of Paul's life and legacy can be made to any of the following:
EAA Aviation Foundation: P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903
Evergreen Foundation Inc.: 1130 North Westfield St., Oshkosh, WI 54902
American Cancer Society, Northeast Wisconsin: 790 Marvelle Lane, Green Bay, WI 54304
Poberezny was a military pilot for 30 years and served during World War II and Korea before retiring as a lieutenant colonel from the Wisconsin Air National Guard in 1970.
He was born in Kansas in 1921 and taught himself to fly at age 16 in a single-seat Waco glider he helped restore. Since then he has logged more than 30,000 hours of flight time in nearly 500 different types of aircraft, including more than 170 amateur‐built airplanes.
He founded EAA in the basement of his Milwaukee-area home in 1953 with his wife Audrey, and they built it into a vibrant organization that now boasts 170,000 members in more than 100 countries, and its annual gathering, EAA AirVenture, is one of aviation's premiere events.
Poberezny is a 1999 inductee to the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, and in 2002 received the prestigious Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy from the National Aeronautic Association and numerous awards.
-Tom and Paul Poberezny- EAA image
Poberezny designed and built a long series of original aircraft including the Pober Pixie and Acro Sport I and II, and he helped build a Pitts Special biplane that his son Tom flew to victory in national and international competitions in the early 1970s. Tom later served as EAA president from 1989 until 2010.
Paul Poberezny attended EAA AirVenture every year and was a familiar site waving from the chop-topped Volkswagen beetle in which he drove throughout the sprawling airport grounds. He was seen visiting AirVenture for a few hours during the 2013 event. From Staff Reports, FMI: EAA FacebookAbout EAA
EAA embodies the spirit of aviation through the world’s most engaged community of aviation enthusiasts. EAA’s 180,000 members and 1,000 local chapters enjoy the fun and camaraderie of sharing their passion for flying, building and restoring recreational aircraft. For more information on EAA and its programs, call 800-JOIN-EAA (800-564-6322) or go to www.eaa.org. For continual news updates, connect with www.twitter.com/EAAupdate.