Albert Calderon, 98, resident of Bowling Green, Ohio passed away from this life on April 9, 2024. He was the son of Ya’acov Calderon (1877-1955) and Reina Behar Calderon (1894-1972), of Jerusalem Israel. Albert was born in the Old City of Jerusalem, during the period of the British Mandate. When he was around 9 years old, his family, a large one which eventually had ten children, moved to the New City of Jerusalem, due to the increasingly dangerous conditions for Jewish families living in the Old City. His family was Sephardic, and his first language was Ladino, an archaic form of Spanish not much changedf rom the time of Cervantes, which also had words and phrases from other languages, in particular Turkish and Hebrew.
Albert’s father, Ya’acov Calderon, was a merchant and contractor to the British Government, as well as a supplier of tents to the Jewish National Fund. He was considered a person of substance, probity and
discretion within his religious and mercantile communities. Albert grew up in a well-cared for family
environment, having close relationships and friendships with his siblings, of whom there were five girls, five boys, and a step-sister. Their names were Chaim, Samuel, Simha, Isaac, Rachel, Albert, Matilda, Judith, Tamar and Nissim. Sarina, the step-sister was the child from a first marriage of Ya’acov
Calderon’s; her mother died in child birth or shortly thereafter.
Albert spoke five languages by the time he was in his late teens: Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, French and
English. He graduated from a French Catholic upper school called Colleges de Freres (Brothers College)
and came to the United States in 1946 to attend engineering school. First having been admitted to the
University of Atlanta, at that time a segregated, historically black university, he was told he could not
matriculate because of his skin color. The Atlanta chapter of B’nai Brit and the University administrator helped him to matriculate at the recently re-opened Oglethorpe College, and he eventually transferred to Georgia Tech. He left school in his junior year to follow his ambition of finding a new way of charging open hearth steel furnaces. He married Mary Jo Knight, daughter of Walter Raleigh Knight (1887-1964) and Mary Victoria Holton Knight (1895-1981), a pianist and x-ray technician, and the daughter of Southern Baptist parents. Albert and Jo met at a YMCA sponsored dance, and it was love at first sight; Albert admired Jo’s easy-going Southern style of leaving people enough room to make up their own minds, and Jo loved Albert’s merriment of heart and truthful affections, his faith as acted out in his life, and his depth of character. They were married August 27, 1948. They were married 62 years. Jo supported Albert’s business in scrap charging equipment for 5 years, through her work as an x-ray technician. In 1953, their son, Jack David Calderon (1953-2009) was born in Detroit, Michigan, and in 1958 a daughter followed, Reina Ann Calderon, born in Ravenna, Ohio.
Albert’s entire professional career of over seven decades was as an inventor working in technology for
heavy industry. He invented and commercialized scrap-charging equipment for installations at Ford
(River Rouge), Inland Steel, Lysaughts (S. Africa), Cockerill Ougree (Belgium), U.S. Steel, Colorado Fuel
and Iron, and AK Steel (then Armco). All of these machines, sold in the decades of the 1960’s through
the early 1980’s, were for the charging of scrap to the basic oxygen furnace for steel-making. He also
invented equipment and processes for pollution control of coke ovens, hot gas cleaning, coke-making,
direct reduction of iron, direct steel-making, upgrading of hydrocarbons, and other industrial processes. He was awarded over 50 domestic or foreign patents.
Albert was a Jewish free-thinker, and would have been at home in the 18th century. He marveled and
was amazed by Nature as an elemental force and provider of new inspiration and leading ideas for
invention. He was firmly rooted in his Jewish upbringing of a profound faith in God as the giver of life and humanity’s sustainer and redeemer. Albert also had a profound respect for the law—in the Torah, as well as expressed in God’s creation. His meditation, which he worked on for many years, and would say alongside mealtime blessings went as follows:
“The Laws of Nature are Supreme. We must understand them, obey them and apply
them. Even though the laws of Nature are invisible, they are omnipresent and always
available. Blessed are the laws of Nature for having given me life, together with logic
and health, to thank Mother Earth for her Bounty, and to sustain a life of integrity,
responsibility and creativity, which is linked to specific objectives that once they are
realized, with mental and physical effort, a joyful mental and physical celebration takes
place.”
Albert’s funeral will be at Deck Hanneman Funeral Home on Thursday, April 18th at 10 a.m. with burial at Oak Grove Cemetery at around 11 a.m.; visitation is Wednesday, April 17th from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Pastor Deb Conklin of Peace Lutheran Church will officiate; traditional Hebrew prayers will be recited by Joseph Jacoby (Hebrew) and Reina Calderon (English). A light repast of fruit, bread, and cheese will be served at Deck Hanneman’s Community Room, following the burial service.
