?»?Bleck, Max Emil, passed away peacefully in his sleep early on Sunday, September 2, 2018. For

thirty years, Max provided executive leadership and engineering expertise to the general

aviation industry and to Wichita?€™s general aviation manufacturers in particular. At various

times in his career, he served as President of Cessna, Beechcraft and Learjet in Wichita as well

as Piper Aircraft in Vero Beach, FL. He also served as Chairman of the General Aviation

Manufacturer?€™s Association and as the President of Raytheon Corporation during the time

Beechcraft was a Raytheon subsidiary. In 1992, he was inducted into the Kansas Aviation Hall

of Fame.

Max was born in Buffalo, NY on April 11, 1927 to Max Walter Bleck and his wife Theodora.

From an early age, he was fascinated by flight and flying machines. As a boy, he was a prolific

builder of model airplanes, an avocation he carried all the way into retirement. At Woodlawn

High School in Buffalo, Max played golf, tennis and basketball and was also a precocious

student, entering the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at age 16. His college years and his

budding romance with Gloria Robinson of Troy, NY were interrupted in early 1945 by service in

the United States Navy where he was trained as a radar technician. After his discharge, he

returned to college and married Gloria shortly before his 1949 graduation from RPI, where he

earned a BS in mechanical engineering. Max later received honorary doctorate degrees from

Daniel Webster College (1992) and RPI (1993).

The couple settled in his home town, and i n 1951 he joined the engineering staff of the Stanley

Aviation Corporation, where he rose to the position of Vice President of Engineering. For ten

years, first in Buffalo and later in Denver, CO where the company moved in 1954, Max

spearheaded the development of several increasingly sophisticated emergency escape systems

for aircraft of the US Air Force, culminating in the escape capsule for the supersonic B-58

Hustler. He began his general aviation career in 1961, when he left Stanley Aviation to take the

position of chief engineer at Cessna?€™s Wallace Division, which developed and manufactured

Cessna?€™s military and twin engine general aviation aircraft. He would go on to play significant

roles, both as an engineer and an executive, in the development of many iconic aircraft,

including Cessna?€™s Citation I business jet, Beechcraft?€™s Starship, Beechjet and its military

derivative T-1A Jayhawk, Hawker business jet and T-6A Texan II, and Piper?€™s Malibu and

Cheyenne.

One quality that set Max apart from his industry peers was his ability to connect on a personal

level with his organization?€™s staff at all levels and to use those connections to promote and

encourage teamwork. Shortly after taking over as Beechcraft?€™s President, he instituted monthly

breakfast meetings with small groups of employees. The minutes of the first meeting, in

January 1988, reflected his conviction that the company?€™s employees were its greatest

resource. ?€?We have a tremendous reservoir of capability at Beech,?€? he said. ?€?If everybody

does a little more than they have to, Beech will really move out front.?€?

As Max?€™s career grew, so did his family. He and Gloria had a son, Mark, in 1951 and two years

later welcomed home twin daughters, Cynthia and Sandra. The couple raised their family,

along with a series of Shetland Sheepdogs, in Denver and Wichita and later owned homes in

Vero Beach, Florida and Boston, Massachusetts. In retirement, they split time between Vero

Beach in the winter and Wichita in the summer.

Max was a licensed private pilot who held instrument and multi-engine ratings and logged more

than 1300 flight hours. He designed and constructed an experimental biplane in his Wichita

basement and garage and later flew it. He was an avid tennis player who passed on his passion

for the game to his children, and in retirement, he rediscovered his teenage fascination with

golf, managing to shoot his age several times. Gloria and Max were active members of St.

Stephens Episcopal Church in Wichita and St. Mark?€™s Anglican Church in Vero Beach. They

generously supported numerous educational institutions and charities including Rensselaer and

Russell Sage colleges, the Emma Willard School, the Sedgwick county Humane Society,

Exploration Place Inc., Senior Services Inc., and St. Stephens Church.

Preceded in death by his parents, his wife Gloria, his brother Herb, sister Teddy and infant son

Brian T. Bleck, Max is survived by his children, Mark Bleck (and wife Donna) of Albuquerque,

NM, Cynthia Bleck (and significant other Rich Hill) and Sandra Weaver (and husband Fred), both

of Kansas City, MO and by his grandchildren, Brian Bleck (and significant other Amy Baldwin) of

Albuquerque, NM and Lara Parr (and husband James) of Orlando Florida. The family would like

to extend its sincere thanks to the staff of the Brookdale Shawnee Senior Care Facility and in

particular to Larry, Jackie and Shelley for their faithful and loving care. A visitation will be held

at the Downing & Lahey East Mortuary from 6-8 pm on Friday, September 14. A memorial

service will be conducted at St. Stephen?€™s Episcopal Church on Saturday, September 15 at 11

am. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St. Stephen?€™s church, 7404 E. Killarney Pl,

Wichita, KS 67206. Tributes may be sent to the family via www.dlwichita.com.