Obituary of Edward F. Elman

Victor, New York, at the Legacy at the Fairways. Peacefully, on January 28, at age 95, of complications from heart disease. For 33 years, he worked in the Research and Development Department at The Gleason Works. He was the last living member of the Revacycle team, a group of engineers who refined a groundbreaking approach to the manufacturing of gears for motor vehicles under the direction of Revacycle's inventor, Dr. Ernest Wildhaber. Mr. Elman also helped develop Curvic Coupling, a process for producing gears with precisely ground teeth in a circle. At his retirement, his friend Gil Spear, a Gleason Vice President, said, "If I were to list your attributes, it would probably sound like a recitation of the Boy Scout oath." Mr. Elman was born in Rochester in 1921. He was the grandson of Vincenzo Maria Emma, an immigrant who changed his family name in the 1870s to avoid anti-Italian prejudice. Mr. Elman's father Frank was a foreman at the Rochester lithographic company Stecher-Traung. Mr. Elman graduated from Aquinas Academy and held a B. S. in Mechanical Engineering from Villanova University. He served in the US Navy during World War II on the USS Zaurak, a troop transport ship, and was hired by Gleason in June 1946. He was pre-deceased by his sisters Grace Ferrara, Louise Elman, Mary Wackerle, Albertine Minisce, and Frances Minisce. He leaves his wife Elizabeth (Stauder), three sons, three daughters-in-law, and five grandchildren (Stephen Elman and Joanne D'Alcomo of Boston, Massachusetts; James and Deborah Elman of Fairport, New York; their sons Christopher and Thomas; Gregory and Lee Ann Elman of Beltsville, Maryland; and their daughters Taryn Henehan, Victoria Elman, and Kacey Elman). He also leaves many nephews and nieces, including Kathleen Gill of Pittsford, Joseph Minisce of Webster, and Raymond Minisce of Caledonia. Mr. Elman's life will be celebrated at a Mass of Christian Burial at 11 AM on February 25 at the Church of the Transfiguration, 50 W. Bloomfield Rd., Pittsford. Donations to the charity of your choice may be in his name.