Authors: Ben Ruhe
Date Submitted: August 31, 2002
Article Type: Journal

At age 95, with his remarkable mental and physical faculties largely intact, Ed Grauel of Rochester has died of a heart condition. A national treasure of American kiting, Grauel spent 40 years in retirement researching, designing, building, flying, collecting, exhibiting, lecturing, and writing about kites.

Most notably, he was the foremost authority on U.S. kite patents, an important role since kites not only led to the invention of the airplane a century ago but in more recent times produced the hang glider and steerable parachute. Enormous kites may well be used for economical freight-hauling in outer space in this century.

Born in l906, Grauel came to kites after being educated at the University of Pennsylvania’s famous Wharton School and a subsequent 32-year distinguished career as an administrator at Eastman Kodak. Retiring at the early age of 55, he decided to focus on kites as a full-time hobby because he liked to be active and liked the outdoors. “I thought to myself, kites are ideal,” he recalled. “If the weather is good I can go outside and fly them. If the weather is bad, I can stay inside and do research, design, and building.’”

PDF Link: Journal Issue