He started his newspaper career as wire editor at the Coastal Georgian in Brunswick, Ga.
Later in his career, he was an assistant to the commissioner for the Nassau County Department of Social Services, and public health information director for the Nassau County Department of Health from 1971 to 1987.
He retired as director of communications for the New York State School Boards Association in Albany in 1989, and relocated to Dover.
Ornauer was a member of the Merrick Board of Education for 26 years, serving as its president for four years, and a founding member of the Board of Cooperative Educational Services of Nassau County for 20 years, 18 as president. He served on the Executive Committee of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association for 26 years, two years as president.
Ornauer was elected to the board of directors of the New York State School Boards Association in 1979 and served 10 years, six as vice president and eight as a member of the Executive Committee. During this period, he was a voting delegate from New York to the National School Boards Association, served on several of the national association's presidential task forces, and was president of its Northeast Region in 1987.
He was a founding member and represented New York's Fourth Congressional District on the National School Boards Association's Federal Relations Network. He also served on the New York State School Board's Legislative Network for the 18th Assembly District.
Ornauer was the recipient of Man of the Year awards from the Merrick Chamber of Commerce and the Long Island Association of Special Education Administrators. He was named Educator of the Year in 1973 by Phi Delta Kappa, an honorary education society.
He received Distinguished Service awards from the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association in 1979 and 1987; from the Floral Park-Bellerose School District (where he attended elementary school) in 1982; and from the Public Television station WLIW in Garden City in 1982.
Ornauer received numerous citations for his work in journalism and public education. He was an honorary life member of both the New York State and National Parent-Teacher associations.
A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Ornauer served as an apprentice reporter and copyreader on the Columbia Missourian and a radio news writer for station KFRU in Columbia, Mo.
He was a life member of the Society of Professional Journalists and a member of both the Press Club of Long Island and the Empire State Chapter. He is listed in Who's Who in America since 1977.
Serving in the military from 1942 to 1945, Ornauer was an Army sergeant major with both the 5202nd and 5221st Engineer Construction Brigades in the Asiatic-Pacific area. He took participated in the invasions of Biak Island in the Netherlands East Indies (now West Papua, Indonesia), and Leyte and Luzon Islands in the Philippines. He also served in New Guinea (now Papua), Okinawa and Korea. In the U.S., he was assigned to Battery C, 332nd Field Artillery Battalion in the 86th Infantry Division.
He is survived by his wife, J. Rexene A. Ornauer of Dover. He was the father of three children, David S. of Okinawa, Michael J. of Long Beach and SaraJo of Merrick; five step-children, T. Philip Ashford III of Lake Worth, Fla., Mary Collier of Encinitas, Calif., Ann Menor of Lake Worth, Fla., William Ashford of Cherry Valley, N.Y., and Jean Berrios of West Palm Beach, Fla.; four grandchildren from Okinawa, and one great-granddaughter on Long Island; 15 step-grandchildren in Florida and upstate New York, and two step-great-grandchildren.
Born Oct. 19, 1922, in Brooklyn, Ornauer was raised on Long Island, residing in Floral Park and Merrick, before moving to Newtonville, N.Y., and Dover.
Interment was at Mt. Ararat Cemetery in Babylon, following graveside services.
A scholarship in his memory has been established at the Long Island High School for the Arts in Syosset. Donations may be sent to Teresa Scaturro at Nassau BOCES, 71 Clinton Road, Garden City, N.Y. 11530. Also, contributions in Ornauer's memory may be sent to Compassionate Care Hospice, 702 B Kirkwood Highway, Wilmington, Del. 19805.
