Milton Brenner, former president of Aeroflex, dies at 82

Milton Brenner, a former president of Plainview-based Aeroflex Inc., died Wednesday after a long battle with prostate cancer, his children said.

Brenner, of Hastings-On-Hudson, was 82.

"He was a worker's boss," said his son, Gary Brenner of Quogue. Despite holding executive titles, he stayed true to his "blue-collar roots" and "was just a factory man. Workers loved him. He didn't walk around with an ego."

Brenner grew up in the Bronx. He graduated from Evander Childs High School and went on to attend New York University. He earned a master's degree in engineering, said his daughter, Susan Brenner-Morton of Irvington, N.Y.

He married Joyce Levine in the early 1950s and the couple lived in Uniondale for a few years before moving to Plainview. Describing him as a "social butterfly," his son said Brenner shunned the limelight yet loved to play host. "Our house was the center of entertainment," he recalled. "The door never closed."

An engineer, Brenner worked for tech firms including Telephonics Corp. in Huntington, where he was president.

He headed Aeroflex Inc., a microelectronics maker, for 18 years before selling the company. His son recalled that Brenner sought to ensure that the workers kept their jobs after the sale.

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After retiring, Brenner traveled and went on cruises with his wife and continued to be active with the Plainview Jewish Center.

But he couldn't stay away from computers or technology - his daughter said he would help small companies "set up on computer" as a hobby.

Besides his children, survivors include three grandsons. Brenner's wife died in 2006.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, P.O. Box 27106, New York, NY 10087.

A funeral is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. at Gutterman's in Woodbury. The family will be sitting shiva in Irvington afterward from Sunday through Wednesday.