Harold Bissman – Obituary

Harold Bissman, 94, died on March 13th, in Buffalo, New York after a short illness.

He was born on May 26, 1921 in Renovo, the son of the late Harold Bissman Sr. and Mary (Green) Bissman. He graduated from Renovo High School and studied sheet metal fabrication at a trade school in Williamsport, PA. In 1941, he married Margaret Fray of Point Breeze, whose father, A.H. Fray, ran the A&P store.

Harold served in the Navy during World War II.

In the early 1940s, Harold and Margaret moved to Buffalo, where he found work as a sheet metal fabricator at Curtiss-Wright and later Buffalo Sheet Metal. He was a talented craftsman who could make just about anything with his hands. He tied his own flies for fishing and used his metalworking skills to make bird feeders, wind machines and lamps.

Even in very old age he was making tools to help him put on his shoes, pick up objects and other household and personal tasks.

He and Margaret were avid outdoors enthusiasts and fly fished in the Adirondacks and Catskills and in the streams of western New York. Harold also enjoyed metal detecting in Buffalo’s parks, where he delighted in finding old coins and jewelry.

He is survived by his daughter, Sandra (Paul) Kurutz, of Renovo; a grandson, Steven Kurutz of Brooklyn, N.Y.; a favorite nephew, Terry O’Connor of Charlotte, N.C.; and two nieces, Ida Cornelius and Dora Perry Wilson, both of Tucson, Arizona.

In addition to his parents, Harold was preceded in death by his wife, Margaret, and two sisters, Gladys Stewart and Mary O’Connor, both longtime Renovo residents.

A private burial took place at North Bend Cemetery.