Ludwig Benner Jr. of Oakton, Virginia died on November 15, 2021. He is survived by two daughters, Holly Carey (and her husband Bill) of Oakton, Virginia, and Ann Brigida of Centreville, Virginia as well as three grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Ludi (as his friends knew him) was born on March 27th, 1927 in Sewickley, Pennsylvania to his father Ludwig Benner Sr., a prosthesis maker, and mother Erna, a homemaker. Entrepreneurial from a young age, Ludi started several businesses with friends, delivering coal, setting trap lines, and selling the pelts. Always motivated by a love of country, he worked as a welder on LSTs until he joined the Navy in the waning days of the Second World War.

After the war, a friend encouraged him to take the Carnegie Mellon entrance exam, so -- on a lark -- he flew to Pittsburgh and took it. He attended Carnegie Mellon, joining the Theta Xi fraternity and graduating as a chemical engineer.

After college, Ludi worked at General American Transport, where he met the love of his life, Helen Jacobson. The two eloped and married in a small white church in Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania on October 13th, 1951. Work took the young couple to Ohio, where they began a family. Soon after the birth of his two daughters, Ludi nursed Helen through a severe case of polio. Told by the doctors that Helen would not survive, and that he should pray if he was a praying man, Ludi prayed. Helen miraculously survived, and she and Ludi continued to care for each other and have fun together for another fifty-three years. Notorious for their brutal Scrabble play, they challenged each other, but intimidated the mere mortals in their lives.

The family then moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania, where Ludi worked for Air Products, managing their distribution and truck fleet. After his time at Air Products, Ludi moved his family to Virginia and began to work for the National Transportation Safety Board. There he developed a system for training firefighters to manage hazardous materials and is still known as the "Father of Hazardous Materials Firefighting".

Always looking to the future, Ludi took his expertise in safety and accident investigation and founded a company, Events Analysis. In the early 1980s he set up technology for his company to be entirely remote, anticipating a trend to come in forty years. He was always proud to be able to provide a good living for his employees and friends.

Running his own company afforded Ludi ample opportunity to teach at Montgomery College and USC, and lecture internationally on system safety. He also wrote extensively -- publishing 149 articles, textbooks, and books.

Both before and after his retirement, Ludi filled his life with things beyond work. First and foremost, he was a family man. An only child, Ludi enjoyed the expanded family his marriage provided, embracing Helen's seven siblings as his own. At holidays he loved making music with his daughters: he would play the flute while Holly played the piano and Ann the violin. Throughout his life, Ludi enjoyed the intimacy of family gatherings around the table and the adventure of road trips and international travel with those he loved. Civically minded, Ludi was always proud to serve as an election official, believing that people have a responsibility to their country. He corresponded regularly with his elected officials, working to improve his county, state, and country.

His church was a constant source of joy and mission for him. He sang in the choir, was church council president, was a member of the preschool board (bemusedly taking up a three year term at age ninety), and collected food for WFCM (a local food bank).

Intellectually omnivorous, Ludi attended lectures, read voraciously and enjoyed talking about any and everything with his family and friends. With a steel trap of a mind, he excelled at word games. He supported a local Christian School, Ad Fontes Academy, serving as their board treasurer and keeping the school's vision focused on a bright future.

Ludi was a lifelong believer in the idea that what someone creates, another could understand.

From encountering a Model T as a three-year-old to teaching himself to use an Apple Watch as a ninety-two-year-old, Ludi was never daunted by the profound changes and shifts in the world he saw in his ninety-four years.

He was generous and supported many charities. Two that he particularly mentioned in his final wishes were pancreatic cancer research and his church’s preschool. If you have any interest in remembering his life in a way he would have loved, here is the information.

King of Kings Lutheran Preschool
4025 Kings Way
Fairfax, VA  22033

Donations in memory of Mr. Ludwig Benner, Jr. may be made in support of the Pancreatic Cancer Surgical Research Fund at Jefferson. Please visit our giving page here: jefferson.edu/givesurgery. On this site in the ‘choose your designation’ section, click the drop-down and select Pancreatic Cancer Surgical Research Fund. There is also the option to make this gift a “tribute gift”, where the gift can be made in memory of Mr. Benner.

Gifts can also be made by check. Please make these payable to Jefferson and note “Ludwig Benner, Jr.- Pancreatic Cancer Surgical Research Fund” in the memo section, and then mail to: Jefferson Office of Institutional Advancement, 125 S. 9th St., Suite 600, Philadelphia, PA 19107.