Leonard Peter Bonifaci
May 15, 1922 – June 7, 2012
Leonard Peter Bonifaci died June 7, 2012 after a short illness at the age of 90. He was born May 15, 1922 to immigrant parents Peter and Dorothy Bonifaci (nee Schmeltzer) who met in Seattle after his father Peter abandoned the Yukon gold fields. Leonard and his brother Robert grew up in West Seattle where their father established a cobbler’s business. Len attended the UW, graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering, and found work as a draftsman where he met Chris Crecelius, lifetime friend and collaborator, and Margaret Josund whom he married in 1944.
Chris and Len developed a business called Olympic Instruments which returned less than would support both families, and Len took a job at Boeing where he designed tools and parts, eventually supervising the engine testing lab at Plant 2. Meanwhile he was a passionate sailor, hiked and climbed locally, and played violin and then viola in several community orchestras. In spite of deafness in one ear he enrolled at Cornish School of the Arts after retirement and graduated cum laude with a degree in music performance, playing in and volunteering for the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra for many years as well as attending music camps each summer.
He was preceded in death by wife Margaret, and survived by daughters Linda Swartz, Carol Bonifaci and Lorraine Bonifaci, and sons Bruce and Brian Bonifaci, and six grandchildren.
Leonard had a favorite quote from a poem by Theodore Roethke who was contemporary at the UW during his enrollment: “Let others probe the mystery if they can… time-harried prisoners of Shall and Will… the right thing happens to the happy man.” from Ballad of the Happy Man.
A memorial will be held July 28 at 10:30am at Eagle Harbor Congregational Church in Winslow. Memorials may be made to the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra at 200 Madison Avenue N., Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 or to the Max Aronoff Viola Institute, 6302 54th Avenue Ct West, Tacoma, WA 98467
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