Helene Bohlitz Ackernecht Rother
Personal Information
Born: 1908
Died: 1999
Country of Birth: Germany
Nationality: USA
Ethnicity: White
Education
Kunstgewerbeschule of Hamburg, graduated approximately 1930 with a degree equivalent to an MA in Art; Weimar or Dessau Bauhaus
Professional Life
Institution/Corporation: General Motors; Marvel Comics; AMC; Samuel Kirk & Sons; Miller-Meteor
Degrees & Memberships: none
Awards & Achievements
Awards: 2020, Automotive Hall of Fame; 1953, Nash Motors won the Jackson Medal for Outstanding Design based on her automotive designs & innovations
Achievements: drew Jimmy Jupiter character for Marvel Comics;
1st female to work as an automotive designer when she went to work for GM in Detroit in 1943
Designed auto interiors, furniture, jewelry, fashion accessories, & stained glass windows
Grew up in Germany; moved to Paris; fled Nazi-occupied France with her 7 year old daughter to a refugee camp in Africa; after 4 months, found passage to NY; her husband was in the French Resistance & on the run for years
Her 1st job in NY was as an illustrator for Marvel Comics
1947, established her own design studio
Designed interiors for Nash cars 1048-1956
Was the 1st female to address the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE, 1951)
Designed the interior of ambulances & hearses for Miller-Meteor, silverware patterns fo Samuel Kirk & Son, & stained glass windows for several churches
Held 1 patent for vehicle suspension