Henry F. Gardner, CPO (retired), a World War II veteran and pioneer in the development of prosthetic devices, passed away March 28. He was 96. A founder and the fourth president of the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists, Gardner held the number one certification internationally, according to his obituary.
Gardner was born April 9, 1919, in Stephenson, Michigan. He joined the U.S. Army Transport Service, Marine Division, after graduating from high school. A 1942 graduate of the Marine Officer Academy, he served as an engineering officer on board the H-11 in the Pacific and the E.B. Alexander in the North Atlantic. After World War II, he joined the U.S. Department of Veterans Administration (VA) Prosthetics Center, New York, as a prosthetics technician and graduated from New York University (NYU) with a degree in biomechanics.
As a technical assistant to the director of the state VA, Gardner coordinated a research and development program with the National Academy of Sciences; NYU; the University of California, Los Angeles; and Northwestern University, and developed and patented numerous prosthetic devices and advanced prosthetic designs, including contributing to endoskeleton design. He traveled worldwide to lecture and teach these new techniques, often with the U.S. Department of State, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations.
Upon retirement, Gardner moved to Upstate New York, where he loved walking in the woods, bird watching, and hunting, and became an expert and avid fly fisherman who handcrafted his own rods and flies.
He is survived by his wife, Jean Gardner; a son, Henry Jr., daughter-in-law, and grandson; a brother, sister, and several stepchildren, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
