Louis Pressman - A Ham Remembered

After a childhood during which I dreamed of becoming a ham ever since reading Robert Hertzberg's "So You Want to Be a Ham" in 1961 at the age of seven, it was not until my sophomore year in high school, in 1969, that my dream finally became reality.  The then-faculty advisor of Brooklyn Tech High School's ham radio club (W2CXN), Louis Pressman, helped usher me into this fraternity of which I've now been a member for most of my life.

Mr. Pressman helped me prep for the novice exam, which he administered.  This earned me my first ticket, WN2QXZ.  He and the student club members (including Lenny Kafka, at the time WN2HWA, the only one whose callsign I remember), introduced me to the real-life fun of ham radio.

The W2CXN club, with a Swan 500C in its shack and a heavy-duty dipole antenna more than 14-stories above the teeming Fort Greene, Brooklyn, streets was an oasis for me.  Mr. Pressman helped make it a reality by generously giving of his time, energy, and inspiration.

I'm sorry to say I can't even recall his callsign, but the memory of his kind, generous manner lives on in my heart, as I'm sure it does for many others fortunate enough to have known him.

73, good friend.

Howie N6KX/4