€Kruh has authored a number of books, including "The Family Guide to Long Island" (1970), which Newsday proclaimed the Island's best guide when it was first published; "The New Family Guide to Long Island" (1976); "Machine Cryptography and Modern Cryptanalysis" (1985); and "Presidential Landmarks" (1992), which he wrote with his son, David.
€For 25 years, Kruh belonged to Mensa International, a 100,000-member cultural and social society for "bright people." To join, members must score in the top 2 percent on a standard IQ test.
€For the past 25 years, Kruh has been a member of the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club. He is also a past president of the American Cryptogram Association, and a founder and editor of Cryptologia, a quarterly journal on cryptology, the study of secret codes.
€In 1979, the Merrick Chamber of Commerce named Kruh its Man of the Year.
ŒI figure the more education you get, the better you¹re going to be. The more you study, the better you¹re going to be. It's a simple philosophy. I¹m a very practical person."
Lou Kruh
Merrick school trustee
pt hed: A volunteer beyond compare
Drophead: Decorated war hero completing record 10th term on Merrick school board
By Scott Brinton
Adrenaline coursed through U.S. Army Pfc. Lou Kruh as he prepped himself to dash to near-certain death.
It was 1944, and World War II raged. The 20-year-old had landed in France three months after the June 6 D-Day invasion and fought his way to one the Germans' few remaining bases, a U-boat station in Lorient-St. Nazaire, a port city in northwest France on the Atlantic Ocean. More than 15,000 German troops had hunkered down at the base, which served as a jumping-off point for the U-boat Wolf Packs that terrorized Allied ships. The Germans had no intention of surrendering. The 94th Infantry Division, to which Kruh was assigned, was charged with capturing the base.
The Germans shelled the American forces relentlessly. The Americans lobbed back rifle-fired grenades. The battle carried on for days, until Kruh's unit started to run low on ammunition. His sergeant called for a volunteer to race from the unit's fortified position to an ammo depot. The men paused. Kruh's hand suddenly popped up.
"I'm a born volunteer," said Kruh with a smile recently in the comfort of his Merrick home office, surrounded by books, magazines and a lifetime's worth of mementos.
Eventually, the lull in mortar fire that Kruh awaited came, and without hesitation, he blazed across the pockmarked field toward the depot in the distance. Then he heard a shell whistling toward him. "The Germans started firing again, and I jumped into the nearest foxhole," Kruh recalled. "My luck, the shell landed right at the edge of the foxhole. I remember the noise and a bright, bright light. Two days later, I woke up in a French hospital."
The force of the blast compressed Kruh's lungs, causing blood vessels to burst. "I was spitting up blood," he said. "I was in the hospital for weeks and weeks." Then the Army shipped him to England to recuperate. He barely survived.
When the war in Europe ground to a halt in May 1945, the Army sent Kruh to Paris and assigned him to the Stars & Stripes newspaper office. He took an apartment on the City of Lights' main thoroughfare, the Champs Elysee, within sight of the Arc de Triomphe. He was living out a dream.
A year later, he headed home to the U.S., but on the way, he began vomiting blood. His blood vessels had never fully recovered. He spent another year in a Colorado Army hospital, regaining his strength. He was awarded the Bronze Star for heroism under fire and a Purple Heart.
When Kruh returned to civilian life, like so many of his peers, he saw the importance of volunteer service and wanted to give back to his community. But even among a generation of volunteers, Kruh stands out.
The 46-year Merokean is now halfway through his 10th three-year term on the Merrick Elementary Board of Education. When he retires from the board in a year and a half, he will have set a record as the longest-serving Merrick trustee in the district's history -- 30 years in all. Kruh remained on the Board of Education long after his two now grown children, David and Nancy, finished Merrick schools.
"I just enjoy it," he said. Board of Education trustee "is probably the most important elected position in Merrick. To me, you've got to do the best for the children."
Dr. Ranier Melucci, Merrick schools superintendent, said, "Lou has a wealth of experience, and he brings a lot to the table. His longevity is an advantage and an asset. He brings a lot of history to the board." Still, Melucci said, Kruh constantly seeks to improve his understanding of the education system by attending school-board workshops.
A three-time board president, he has led a number of important fights to improve the elementary schools, including the pitched battle for all-day kindergarten, a concept that he first read about in educational journals and then advocated vociferously. Over the years, he has also called on the district to add foreign language to its curriculum, and he spoke out for it this spring when the district added sixth-grade Spanish to its program.
Kruh served for six years as a Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District trustee before retiring from that board last year. His wife, Gladys, volunteered as a PTA president when the Kruhs' children attended local schools.
Diane Seaman, a six-year Merrick Board of Education trustee, said Kruh "is very balanced in his opinions. I know most of the time where he will fall on an issue. I respect him as a board member, and I respect him as a human being. He's able and eager to take on new challenges. He's a good person. He's a good guy."
Janet Goller, a Bellmore Board of Education trustee who served with Kruh on the Central High School District board, said, "Lou goes to a lot of the events with the kids. He's very visible. He's a good representative because he attends a lot of the school functions, both the elementary and high school. He truly cares about the kids."
Kruh served on the Merrick library board from 1967 to 1973, including two years as board president. He was also a founding member and seven-year president of the Historical Society of the Merricks. In 1986, he suggested holding a Constitution Bicentennial costume ball in Merrick, and served as its chairman. More than 400 residents attended the event in September 1987.
Kruh is a long-standing member of and volunteer for the Merrick Kiwanis Club, and he has been co-president of the Merrick Brotherhood Council since 1995. The list of his volunteer efforts goes on and on.
Kruh graduated from New York City's most prestigious public high school, Stuyvesant. He earned a degree in business administration from the City College of New York and an MBA from Pace University. Later in life, as he neared retirement as director of advertising for New York Telephone, he returned to school and earned his juris doctorate from Touro Law School at night.
"I figure the more education you get, the better you're going to be," Kruh said. "The more you study, the better you're going to be. It's a simple philosophy. I'm a very practical person."
After 35 years in public relations, including 16 at the world-renowned advertising agency of Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn, Kruh became a law guardian in Nassau County Family Court, and later he took an appointment as a senior attorney for the New York State Workers' Compensation Board. The grandfather of two finally retired in 2003.
"I like doing things, and I have the capacity to do more than one thing at a time," Kruh said simply -- and modestly.
Comments about this story? SBrinton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 203.
