Born Günter Renberg on November 30, 1920 to Anna and Herman Renberg in Delmenhorst, a city in Northwest Germany, he immigrated to the United States in June 1937, leaving behind his parents and brother, because Jewish males were unsafe under the Nazi regime. Invited by his father’s sister, Ina Herzberg and her husband, Abraham and son, Leroy, he came to Enid, where he finished high school in 1939.
Ken’s departure from Nazi Germany came four years after Chancellor Adolf Hitler had taken power and ordered the boycott of stores owned by Jews in 1933, during which Renberg witnessed his father being forced to close his bicycle and sewing machine store.
He enlisted in the Oklahoma National Guard’s 45th Division to “get back at Hitler”.
He settled in Tulsa, attended the University of Tulsa for a degree in petroleum engineering and eventually formed Lee Keeling and Associates in 1957.
He was nearly 98 when he died November 3, 2018.
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- FrequencyUpdated Biweekly
- PublishedFebruary 26, 2019 at 1:58 PM UTC
- Length1h 15m
- RatingClean