LAUCK, JOHN ALFRED - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

LAUCK, JOHN ALFRED (4 April 1909 - 24 May 1999) was a pioneering industrial engineer who developed one of the first heart-lung machines used in early open-heart surgery. He was born in Painesville, Ohio, to Nella (Anderson) and Arthur E. Lauk. He graduated from Elyria High School and attended Ohio State University where he earned a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering. He moved to Cleveland and became vice president of Pesco Products, which later became a division of Borg-Warner Corp. in Bedford Heights. He left Pesco Products and co-founded Great Lakes Manufacturing as well as Solon Products. At Solon Products he developed the heart-lung machine and also designed the pressure loaded gear pump, the hydraulic flow equalizer and hydrostatic transmission. In 1959 Lauck left Cleveland and moved to Benton Harbor, Michigan, where he founded Clark Equipment Co. and, later, Lauck Engineering Service Co.

Lauck married Emily Ridzon and together they had four children: John Jr., James, Robert, and Diane Carol (Kraisner). He died at the Lakeland Medical Center in St. Joseph, MI.

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