Aviator, Aircraft Executive, Publicist, Flying School Owner. Born in Mystic, Iowa on March 4, 1904, he attended local public schools and worked in his father's coal mining business before beginning his college studies at Iowa Wesleyan College. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1925 and went on to Harvard Business School, from which he received a Master of Science degree in Business Administration in 1927. He had a life long career in the aviation industry beginning with an appointment as a statistician in the Curtiss-Wright Corporation in 1929. Working his way up the corporate ladder of Curtiss-Wright, eventually becoming assistant to the president. Lodwick remained with Curtiss-Wright until 1938 when he resigned to become president of the Stinson Aircraft Corporation, additionally serving as an officer or board member of a number companies prominent in the aviation industry. He became acquainted with Howard Hughes in the 1930's as a result of their mutual interest in the aviation industry. He would serve as an executive in the Hughes Tool Company, as well as Hughes' personal assistant and publicist beginning in 1936. Lodwick was instrumental in organizing all aspects of Hughes' around-the-world flight in 1938, establishing innovations in radio communications, fuel depots, and weather reporting that have been credited with setting the stage for much of the safety and convenience of today's international air travel. Purchasing an interest in the Lincoln (NE) Flying School, a civilian flight training school, he moved its operations to Lakeland, Florida in 1940, renaming it the Lodwick School of Aeronautics and opening a second school in 1941 in nearby Avon Park, the Lodwick Aviation Military Academy. These schools were among several across the country who had contracted with the Army to provide basic flight training to Army Air Corps and Royal Air Force cadets for service in World War II. Between 1940 and 1945 more than 8,000 trainees entered the Lodwick School of Aeronautics and more than 6,000 graduated. He incorporated Lodwick Aircraft Industries in February, 1946. The new company engaged in the business of converting war surplus military aircraft to commercial use and contracted with the War Assets Administration to sell war surplus aviation parts and equipment. The company foundered after some early success. Lodwick owned a home in Lakeland from 1940 to 1955, after which he would regularly reside in the Terrace Hotel until his death in 1961. He is buried in Mystic,Iowa, the city of his birth. He retained an office on the grounds of Lodwick Field in Lakeland which, after his death, laid undisturbed until 1988 when the building was to be demolished pending an expansion of the Detroit Tigers' spring training facility. Its contents of photographs, papers, and memorabilia now comprise the Albert Lodwick Collection at the Lakeland Public Library. Many additional papers, photos, and artifacts are housed in the permanent collection of the Florida Air Museum on the grounds of the Experimental Aircraft Association's Sun-N-Fun International Fly-In in Lakeland. In 1953 he was the first recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award, an honor bestowed by Iowa Wesleyan College.