Obituary of George B. Hardman

George B Hardman Sr, 94, of Oakland, NJ passed away March 17, 2018. He was born August 28, 1923 in Farnworth, Lancashire, England to George and Hanna (Bridge) Hardman. George grew up in North Arlington, NJ, graduating from Queen of Peace Elementary and High Schools. He served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during WWII and resided in Oakland, NJ for the past 61 years. He attended Purdue University where he studied Aeronautical Engineering. His lifelong passions were playing tennis and flying airplanes. Until his death, he was Owner and Proprietor of Hardman's Tennis. He possessed Canadian and US Commercial Pilot's Certificates, instrument rated for land, sea and air. He flew charter flights to Vermont in winter, flights to Nantucket in summertime and excursion flights to the Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, RI. He started his Engineering career at the Studebaker Corp in South Bend, IN as a Body Layout Draftsman. For many years he was employed at Bendix Corp, Teterboro, NJ, initially as a Hydraulic Test Engineer, then as a Service Engineer on automatic pilots, flight director systems and the Pershing missile inertial guidance systems; finally as a Sales Engineer on computerized test systems. He established the Hardman Tennis business in which he sold tennis equipment and gave lessons. He served as an Adjunct Professor for Tennis at William Paterson University. He was a teaching pro at the Wayne YMCA (or YMHA as it was known at that time). He taught Adult Ed. Tennis in Wayne and Pompton Lakes for many years. He won the Oakland Tennis Tournament in men's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles. He played #1 singles for Singer-Kearfott in the Westchester City Industrial League for one year. Singer-Kearfott won the league that year. George served as Jr Chamber of Commerce Secretary in South Bend, IN, served as 2nd President of the Oakland Historical Society; Neighborhood Commissioner in the Boy Scouts of America and as 1st President of the Ramapo Valley Tennis Association. He is survived by his son, George B Hardman Jr and his wife Rebecca of New Milford, CT, and by his daughter, Victoria R Hardman of New Lisbon, NJ. Also his grandchildren, Jennifer Hardman of Shrewsbury, MA and George W Hardman of Shelton, CT, his sister Mary Margaret DeGraaf of Garfield, NJ and brother William Hardman of El Paso, TX, along with many Nieces and Nephews. The family will receive friends on Friday March 23 from 2-4 & 7-9 PM