Leonard A. Muller died February 6, 2015 at the VNA Hospice in Vero Beach, Florida. He was 86 years old.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, June 5 ,1928 to his parents Dorothy and Leonard Henry Muller, "Len" graduated from The Cranbrook School, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1945, attended Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, prior to receiving his Congressional appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md in 1946. He graduated with the Class of 1950 as a member of the 19th Company.

Immediately following graduation. he represented the Naval Academy in the Academy yawl Royono's second place finish in the 1950 Newport, R.I. to Bermuda sailing race, following which he served in USS Greenwood (DDE 479) before entering the Submarine School in New London, Ct. He then held numerous positions in several submarines. His submarine service, included a tour as Flag Lieutenant and Aide to the admiral commanding the U. S. Atlantic Submarine Fleet, at which time he participated in the first dive of the world's first atomic submarine, the Nautilus.

Mr. Muller was a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War. He resigned his commission in 1956 to attend the Graduate School of Business, Harvard University, Cambridge,, Mass. where he was named a Baker Scholar and awarded a Master In Business Administration Degree, "With High Distinction".

After joining IBM in 1958, he moved up from computer sales to Advanced Systems Administrator; Manager of Planning; and then Assistant to Thomas J. Watson, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of IBM. He subsequently held several senior IBM executive positions, including General Manager of the Instructional Systems Development Division and director of IBM's total marketing efforts to the Communications and Electric Utility Industries, worldwide.

In 1969, Mr. Muller became a Senior Vice President of the Sylvania Corporation, and was thereafter elected President, accomplishment gained him international recognition within the global telecommunications industry, and accelerated the arrival of total worldwide digital telephony transmission..

In 1978, International Telephone and Telegraph recruited Mr. Muller to oversee the worldwide development of ITT's next generation switching systems. Reporting directly to ITT's chief executive officer, he was also given responsibility to introduce marketing into its multi-billion dollar telecommunications sector. In this capacity, he also developed ITT's first coordinated international business strategy.

Subsequent to this role in ITT, Mr. Muller transferred his attention to the field of small company development. During the 1980's, he was directly responsible for the founding and financing of several new public and private companies. GTE Information Systems, a subsidiary of General Telephone & Electronics Corporation.

In 1974 he was elected President and Chief Executive Officer of the Stromberg Carlson Corporation, where he initiated a major restructuring of this Fortune 500 Company. During his tenure, Stromberg was successfully converted from a 10,000 employee, 2 million square feet manufacturer of electromechanical telecommunications equipment, into a modern producer of sophisticated computer-based electronics systems.

At this time, he was credited with redirecting Stromberg into the world's first successful developer, manufacturer, and installer of a digital Class 5 telephone "central office switch". This

During the five year period from 1989 to 1994, Mr. Muller was a senior partner in the Investment firm of John B. Poindexter & Company. As a Senior Partner, he was responsible for the direct management of the six manufacturing companies owned by this partnership. In this role he held the title of Chief Executive Officer of each of these companies: Leer Corporation, the country's largest manufacturer of pick up truck caps; Morgan Corporation, the largest truck body manufacturer in the United States; Lowy Distributors, the largest floor covering distributor in the Mid West and its affiliate Blue Ridge Carpets, a major manufacturer of commercial carpeting; the EFP Company, a manufacturer of expanded foam products; and Magnetic Instruments corporation, a manufacturer of high precision tools for the international oil exploration industry. Mr. Muller played a major role in the successful issuance in 1994 of a $100 million public traded bond, the proceeds of which were used to finance the future growth of this group of companies.

Under Mr. Muller's management, each of these heavily leveraged companies maintained rapid sales and profit growth, even through the difficult recession of the early nineties, with combined stockholder equity rising positively during this five year period from a negative $1.1 million to over $20 million and total sales approximating $400 million.

He is survived by his wife of 44 years, Dorothee, his sons Leonard A. Muller Jr and Scott Muller (Janet) and daughter Kimberly Crossman (Richard). He is also survived by his step-children Glenn Drake (Denise), Kimber-Liegh West and Todd Drake in addition to 11 grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the VNR Hospice House of Vero Beach, FL.

Donations may be made to VNA Hospice 1110 35th Lane, Vero Beach, FL 32960-4801.

A guest book may be signed at www.coxgiffordseawinds.com