Matt Lehmann; Stanford Professor, Filmmaker

Matt Lehmann, a retired Stanford University professor and filmmaker and a descendant of a pioneer Ventura County family, died Monday after a lengthy illness. The Ventura resident was 88.

After leaving the county in the 1920s to attend Stanford, Lehmann returned about six months ago to reside with his wife, Madge, at Victoria Care Center, said his daughter, Leslie Braun, of Oxnard.

“I think there was something poetic to that--back home again,” she said.

He was born Jan. 18, 1909, in Oxnard to Matthew and Blanche Lehmann. His father was one of five brothers who owned Lehmann Brothers in Oxnard, one of the county’s largest produce stores. His uncle, Leon Lehmann, was influential in creating the Port of Hueneme and the Oxnard Harbor District in 1937.

Lehmann graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Stanford in 1931.

He was a member of the Immortal 21, a group of students who recaptured the hallowed Stanford Ax on April 30, 1930, by posing as UC Berkeley students. Cal students stole the ax in 1899, and since 1931 it has been the symbol of gridiron victory at the annual big game between the Bay Area rivals.

“They were brats and this was a real coup to have pulled this off in broad daylight,” Braun said.

From 1938 to 1942, Lehmann was a consulting engineer for Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. It was there he met his second wife, Madge, who was secretary to Disney. The couple married on Valentine’s Day in 1942.

That same year, Lehmann joined the U.S. Air Force, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

In 1953, Lehmann received his master’s degree from Stanford and remained associated with the school as either a professor or a senior research engineer for most of his life. Lehmann changed professions every few years because he loved to travel, working in such countries as Mexico and Switzerland as a structural engineer, Braun said.

He also made a variety of films for Stanford and the public television station in San Francisco, including an award-winning documentary about the Soviet Union called “Winds of Freedom” in 1960.

A decade later he became a textbook author, writing “The Holography Technique” in 1970 and holding patents in the holographic field.

Lehmann believed that learning new skills was the fountain of youth, Braun said.

“Your education never stops, he told me,” she said. “And that was his legacy, I think not only to me, but other seniors and his grandchildren.”

In 1981, as a member of SeniorNet, a nonprofit organization that teaches computer skills to people 55 years of age and older, he became a volunteer for the Peninsula Volunteer’s Little House Senior Center.

From 1982 to 1984 he was a member of the Menlo Park City Council. He was also active in the Retired Officers Assn. and the Sigma Xi Society.

In addition to Braun and his wife, survivors include a daughter and son from his previous marriage, Suzanne Parnell of Kilauea, Hawaii, and Matthew Lehmann of Sacramento; and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Lehmann’s memorial service is private. His remains will be scattered at sea.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box AR, Ventura CA 93002, or to the Humane Society, P.O. Box 417220, Sacramento CA 95841.

Ted Mayr Funeral Home, Ventura, is in charge of the arrangements.