Robert H. Lochner, a journalist and interpreter, died on Sept. 21 from a lung embolism. He was 84.
Although he was born in New York, Lochner grew up in Berlin. His father, Louis P. Lochner, was a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent and The Associated Press bureau chief in Germany.
Lochner served in the U.S. Army during World War II. When the Nazis surrendered, he became the chief interpreter for U.S. occupation forces. From 1949 to 1952, he also worked as the chief editor of the Neue Zeitung newspaper in Frankfurt. In this position, he helped revive the free media in West Germany.
During the 1960s, Lochner ran the Radio in the American Sector station. When President John F. Kennedy arrived in the non-Communist half of the divided capital in 1963, Lochner helped him practice his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech.
Posted on September 30, 2003 12:43 AMLOCHNER – Robert H. I was saddened to hear that my former schoolmate and friend passed away. He was the youngest of our circle of friends. He was brilliant, and skipped two years in school. Bobby lived close to our home in Germany, and when he passed our house, he announced himself by whistling the theme “Siegfried’s Pfiff ”
http://www.singthing.org/ring/horn.au
(composed by my Mom: Gerda Lindner nee Kronheim)
Posted by Peter Lindner on October 22, 2003 9:34 PM