Mathematician, lover of art and music
Henry Lefkovits. (Courtesy photo).
Henry Curt Lefkovits, a gentle man whose flowering legacy endures in gardens all over town, passed away peacefully at home May 7, 2016. Henry was born Sept. 28, 1927, in Vienna, Austria, to Paula and Alexander Lefkovits. He and his parents escaped the Nazis and fled to Bolivia in 1938. After completing high school and business school in Bolivia, Henry came to this country and earned a B.A. and M.A. in physics from the University of Texas and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Rice University.
Henry worked for many years in technical and managerial positions with Shell Oil Company and Shell Research and Development Company before becoming director of the Database Technology Center for General Electric in 1967. Subsequently the division was sold to Honeywell. He left Honeywell to start his own consulting company, dedicated to providing innovative solutions to a variety of data management problems. The company, which eventually became AOG Systems Corporation, closed its doors in 1994. Henry worked with the National Bureau of Standards to develop the American National Standard for Information Resource Data Systems. At the same time, he worked with the International Standards Organization to adopt the same standard. He was the author of several books on data dictionary systems.
Henry met his wife, Sandra, in Texas. They married in 1967 and moved to Connecticut that year and then to Harvard in 1971 with the Honeywell transfer. Doing research on the towns around Boston, they were impressed with the description of Harvard’s beautiful hills and apple orchards. After a first visit, a house on more than five acres became their home.
In later years, that land was a source of great pride and enjoyment. In retirement, Henry planted gardens and got interested in growing and hybridizing daylilies, eventually creating 18 registered hybrids and establishing Pin Hill Gardens. The results of his efforts were viewed in the garden in 1999 on a regional tour for the American Hemerocallis Society. He served eight years as treasurer of the society’s Region 4 as well as the local New England Daylily Society. For more than a decade, the gardens were open to the public when the daylilies were blooming. Many Harvard residents came away with some of Henry’s prized seedlings, which took root all over town.
When he wasn’t in the garden, Henry was an active volunteer in town. He served on the Finance Committee for seven years, helping to put together the annual town meeting report in his home office. He was committee vice chairman in 1995 and chairman in 1996. Henry took great pleasure and interest in representing Harvard on the Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School Committee, a position he held for nearly a decade.
Henry had an artistic side as well. He loved color and form. He was part of the Houston art scene, and his pen-and-ink drawings were shown in a prominent gallery during the 15-plus years that he lived there. His love of color can be seen in his daylilies.
The couple traveled widely, frequently visiting Henry’s father, who moved back to Vienna after the Russian occupation ended. In Austria, Henry indulged his lifelong passion for classical music, attending concerts or operas nearly every night.
Henry is survived by Sandra, his wife of 48 years. Donations in his memory may be made to the Harvard Ambulance Service, 40 Ayer Road, Harvard, MA 01451.
