Less than a month ago, in late July, I reached out to Heinz Bloch about submitting content for our September issue. It was going to be 152 pages, our biggest issue ever, and I felt that something from Heinz would be a complement to it.
He indicated that he was going in for a medical procedure on a Wednesday, July 27. He said he would still have something for me by Friday. I told him to prioritize his health and he did not need to worry, but he had something for me later that day after his procedure was cancelled. That’s just who he was. If you needed something from Heinz, he produced, and did it quickly. Other times, he submitted us an article for consideration out of the blue, and it was always a fit for something we needed.
That was the last conversation I had with Heinz. He passed away on Aug. 20 after a brief illness, according to his son Kenneth on a LinkedIn post. Heinz was 88, set to turn 89 in December.
Over his professional career, beginning in 1962, Heinz wrote more than 800 technical articles, including 24 comprehensive books on practical machinery management, failure analysis, failure avoidance, compressors, steam turbines and pumps. Many of those ran in Pumps & Systems over the years. You can read those here.
His final piece, a guest column titled “Discovering Emission Facts to Drive Change,” ran in our September issue. Heinz was a champion for many issues, including cleaning up the environment. It was fitting that such a big personality would have a contribution to our biggest issue. Heinz was passionate about the industry and sharing his knowledge until the very end. We will miss him tremendously, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family.
“So make it a priority to lead, follow or get out of the way.” – Heinz P. Bloch, Pumps & Systems, Sept. 2022.