Herbert Hildebrand

Herbert Hildebrand

(1927-2024)

Beloved father and husband of Phyllis Joyce Hildebrand (née Brenner, d. 2022, pictured above), died peacefully on Saturday, October 5th, 2024, at his assisted living home in Denver, CO. Herb was born in Schwelm, Germany, on August 5, 1927. He was the son of Ernst Hildebrand (b. August 8, 1888) and Paula Rademacher (b. February 8, 1894) and the younger brother of Helmut Hildebrand. 

The Hildebrand family emigrated to the United States in 1930 (Herb, aged 2; brother Helmut, aged 5). They lived in various boroughs, including the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. Ernst Hildebrand died in November 1934, causes not documented. Paula Hildebrand never remarried, raising both boys on her own. Herb graduated from the Manhattan High School of Aviation Trades in June 1944 and became a naturalized citizen on August 29, 1944 (issued January 28, 1949).

From 1945 to 1952 (18 to 25), Herb engaged in alternate and then military service, with a break in between. First came the Merchant Marines. From 1945 to 1947, he served as F2c (“Fireman, Second Class”) in the US Maritime Service (“Merchant Marines”). His service commenced just before he turned 18, on June 23, 1945. He trained at Sheepshead Bay, NY (concluding on October 20, 1945). He then served continually in the USMM until he was 20, on August 6, 1947. After about three years out of the service, he was drafted at 23 and inducted into the U.S. Army to serve in the Korean War on September 29, 1950, as a Sergeant First Class. As he approached his 25th birthday, he received an honorable discharge on June 29, 1952. He received the Army of Occupation Medal (Japan), the Korean Service Medal with 4 Bronze Service Stars, and the United Nations Service Medal.

After some time working at a “bubble chamber” in NYC (related to nuclear physics), Herb got a job out at Brookhaven National Laboratory, c. 1960. He and Phyllis were married that year, on July 31, 1960, at the Society for Ethical Culture in Manhattan. After renting in Miller Place, NY, for a couple of years, he and Phyllis built a house in 1962. Except for two years in California (c. 1967-69 at the Stanford Linear Accelerator), Herb’s entire work life took place at Brookhaven, many of those years in Building 902, an enormous airplane hanger-sized space with refrigeration and testing equipment for superconducting magnets that were en route to implementation in the RHIC (relatively heavy ion collider) or other cyclotrons which BNL operated over the years. Herb was beloved by co-workers and assumed management duties later in his job. He retired around 1997. 

At his job, he never learned to use a computer or any digital technology. He didn’t have the patience but, beyond that, didn’t understand or know how to participate in the symbolic interface; Herb was a dials, levers, and gauges man. Remotely operated devices with graphical user interfaces were impenetrably foreign to him. In later years at BNL, he was being shepherded by his job to use such devices to run the machinery at BNL, but he said he “couldn’t get it” and took this as the cue to retire. (On the week he retired, Phyllis got a local gas station on his way home to put a message on the sign out front, saying something like, “30 Years, Herb. Enough is enough.”)

Herb was a man who liked to work with his hands; his favorite pastimes included building model airplanes and fixing everything around the house (family cars, the basement oil heater, leaky pipes, and even one summer, the family refrigerator. He cherished his walks with Phyllis. Herb was a great whistler and could often be heard whistling along with classical music while fixing something at his workbench in our basement. He would see movies occasionally but was more of a newspaper reader and, of course, the Farmer’s Almanac. Herb enjoyed travel; first as a Merchant Marine (the Caribbean, mainly, but also as far as Australia once, where he had to disembark in a hurry to get emergency wisdom teeth extraction), later with Phyllis (including drives across country, down from NY to Mexico city in a car with no air conditioning, to Europe and Scandinavia, including back to his birth town of Schwelm), and with family (to Florida, ski trips to upstate NY, New Hampshire for summers at North Conway, Bay of Fundy in Maine, and even a disastrous camping trip in rainy New Jersey!)

Above all, Herb was a profoundly and unerringly kind and gentle man with a happy and easygoing disposition. He thought of others first — he was always helpful to his mother, his wife, his children, and any others needing help. He was rarely given to anger or shouting. He dressed every day in a button-down shirt, slacks, and shoes. T-shirts, jeans, and sneakers went unworn. He called everyone, including men he worked with, “Cookie.” Called his wife “Mugsy” (though perhaps this was after there were children). He loved beef and especially steak. Chinese and Indian food were never turned down, and was partial to pepperoni pizza, too. He was always up for a cup of coffee, a pastry, and a game of cards. He was a tolerant person, but unlike his Lutheran mother, Herb never believed in God or any religion. While not possessing a higher degree, he was a scientific man, seeking and giving explanations with natural laws and mechanical causes.

Herb was interested in other people — their lives, what they did and were doing, how they were. He was deeply empathetic to what others were going through. He felt passionately about the rights of every kind of underdog — the poor, the workers, people of color, and anyone who just needed a hand. He watched hardly any television his entire life, and when he did, it was nature programs, history, or news. He kept up with current events and cared about what would become of his world, even at the end of his life. Herb singled out, for special enmity, those in power hurting people with their words or policies. He was extraordinarily grateful to his children for what they did for him (and for their mom, his wife). Herb rarely complained; one would have to ask him how he was doing to find out something was bothering him.

Herb is survived by his two children, David Hildebrand and Laura Hildebrand, his daughter-in-law (David’s wife) Margaret Woodhull, son-in-law David Houppert (Laura’s husband), and his grandchildren Nicholas and Camilla (Hildebrand) and Samuel (Houppert).

Herbert Hildebrand was a beautiful person, blessed with integrity, ethics, humor, and love. He had a long life — he loved and was deeply loved. And will be missed. We love you, Dad.