Obituary: Manfred Ziegler, 78, Accomplished Engineer

Manfred “Manny” Ziegler, 78 of 114 Redwood Road, Portsmouth, passed away Tuesday, May 13th at the Grand Islander. Husband to Ruth (Brant) Ziegler, Manny was born in Fürth, Germany in 1935 to the late Kathe and Max Ziegler. A survivor of the November 1938 Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) he immigrated with his family to Providence in 1940.

Manny earned a degree in Industrial Engineering from URI in 1957 where he was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. During his career he worked for Raytheon and General Dynamics publishing multiple articles in Industrial Quality Control and retired from McLaughlin Research Corp in 1995. In his later years, Manny enjoyed driving cars for BMW of Newport.

Manny is survived by his wife Ruth of 52 years, daughter Naomi Ziegler and her husband Andrew Hazen of Toronto, Ontario and son Lawrence Ziegler and his wife Annette of Natick, MA. He was affectionately known as Papa to his grandchildren Nathan, Ethan, Etelka and Noah. He was predeceased by his brother Arthur.

His funeral will be held Thursday, May 15th at 1pm at Temple Shalom, 223 Valley Rd., Middletown. Burial will follow at Belth Olam Cemetery, Wyatt Road in Middletown.

Shiva will be observed Thursday and Sunday at 7pm. Calling hours will be held Friday 2-4pm and Sunday 4-7pm at Manny’s residence. Arrangements are by the Chevra Kadisha Association of Newport County.

Donations may be made in his memory to Temple Shalom, 223 Valley Road, Middletown, RI 02842; where he was an active participant and former board member. He also took great pride in his participation and completion of the Bureau of Jewish Education of RI Florence Melton Jewish Leadership Institute 2-year program. The family would like to extend its utmost thanks to the staff of the Grand Islander for their dedicated care of Manny during his illness.