Henry Ortiz was born 7-26-1926 in Yucatan, Mexico. He died 12-24-2009 in Staten Island, NY, USA. He designed the communication headsets the astronauts used on the Mercury missions in the early 1960s when he was an engineer and plant manager at Roanwell Corporation in New York, NY. From 1970 to 1993 he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology at New York City Technical College of the City University of New York in Brooklyn, New York. He earned a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (BME) degree in 1963 from the New York University School of Engineering and attended Mohawk College in Utica, New York, post-WWII. Henry served in the U.S. Army in the Philippines during World War II. He was married to Viola for 49 years, and had three daughters – Mary, Viola, Lois, and five grandchildren – Nicole, James, Anjelique, Megan, and Nora. In his spare time, Henry was an avid sportsman and enjoyed hunting, fishing and sailing.