Strauss, Jerome, 1893-1978

Dates

• Existence: 1893 (date of birth) - 1978 (date of death) - 1978

Biography

Jerome Strauss was born in New York City to Herman and Matilda Neuberger Strauss in 1893. He was educated at Stevens Institute of Technology (M.E., 1913), and his first positions were with the Metallurgical Department of Illinois Steel Company from 1913 to 1914 and the Western Drop Forge Company from approximately 1915 to 1917. Strauss served in World War I as a Lieutenant in the Ordnance Department, and after the war worked as a materials engineer for the U.S. Naval Gun Factory.

In 1928, Strauss began working for Vanadium Corporation of America as chief research engineer. In 1935 he became vice president of research and development, and in 1946, vice president and technical director. He published extensively on low and high alloy steels and holds a number of patents in the manufacture of low alloy steels. He also provided leadership for the American Section for the International Association for Testing Materials, the American Society for Metals, and the American Standards Association. Later in life he worked as a consultant in Metallurgy at Pennsylvania State College.

Strauss also was a noted glass collector who began collecting in the early 1930s. His first collecting interest was early American pressed glass, but he abandoned that quickly in favor of drinking vessels. Both a scholar and scientist in his amateur study of glass, he not only acquired a significant collection of drinking vessels, but also a research library to accompany the collection. Strauss shared his knowledge generously with other collectors and museums, particularly the Corning Museum of Glass. A large portion of his collection was donated to the Corning Museum of Glass after his death in 1978.

Strauss was married twice. His first wife, Ruth Bryan, died in 1955. His second wife, Mary Lillian Jackson, survived him. Strauss died on September 1, 1978 in State College, Pennsylvania.

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