Leonard Bernhard Tennyson ’42

Leonard Bernhard Tennyson ’42 died on September 30, 2003, in Greenbrae, California.

Born on July 29, 1919, in New York City, he prepared for college at Roosevelt High School in Yonkers, NY, and became a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity at Bowdoin. Following his graduation in 1942, he served in the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy Air Corps from 1942 to 1946 during World War II, attaining the rank of lieutenant. After the war he was a newsman in New York City for the United Press Association and later was a correspondent in London for United Press Association and the National Broadcasting Corporation. He was also a correspondent in London and Vienna for The London Observer and from 1950 to 1952 worked on the Marshall Plan for the economic rehabilitation of postwar Europe and its mission in Vienna and Rome. In 1954, he established and became director of the information service of the European Coal and Steel Community, based in Washington, DC. In 1957, he became director of the European Community Information Service, serving the coal and steel community, the European Economic Community, and the European Atomic Energy Community, which are now in the European Union. After retiring from the European Union in 1974, he was the Washington, DC, correspondent for the New York-based newsletter of the American Research Institute of America. He retired in 1985. He was an editor and author of articles and publications on European economic and political affairs. Along with his various positions, he was a member of the graduate faculty of American University; a guest lecturer on European affairs for 20 years at U.S. colleges and universities; a consultant to The Ford Foundation, the U.S. Foreign Service Institute, the National Planning Association, and the Foreign Policy Association; founder and publisher of the magazine Europe, about European integration affairs; and co-founder and board member of the Jean Monnet Studies Council. Surviving are two daughters, Noel Tennyson Hoffman of Stratton, VT, and Leslie Tennyson of Salt Lake City, UT.