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HERALD
Vol. 29 No. 25
Senior Health and Beyond Expo • Excellence in Health Care Awards • Pull-out sections Inside
An emotional night for USFD Page 4
JUNE 16 - 22, 2022
The spy who lived next door Posthumous book by Baldwin man focuses on Arecibo telescope By kAriNA koVAC kkovac@liherald.com
Courtesy of Erik Mahler
Erik MAHlEr witH his son, Brady, and daughter, Kirsten, after climbing 104 stories at One World Trade Center on June 5.
Baldwin family raises over $20,000 for Sept. 11 aid By kAriNA koVAC kkovac@liherald.com
A thousand people climbed the stairs in the 104-story One World Trade Center to its observatory last week in the first Tunnel to Towers Tower Climb NYC since 2019. Erik Mahler, former president of the Baldwin Chamber of Commerce, was among them, climbing with his daughter, Kirsten, 17, and his son Brady, 15. Mahler raised over $20,000 for the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, making him its second-largest contributor this year. He coaxed contributions out of friends, family members and anyone who would listen.
He started his ascent at 6:10 a.m. “The first 35 flights (were) OK,” he recounted. That’s the adrenaline — that’s my body, my health. From 35 to 70, I swear it was a mental mind” (expletive). But he couldn’t, and didn’t, stop, thinking along the way, “I can’t do this, I can’t do this, but I have to do this.” When he reached the 75th floor, he felt the cool air from the observatory wafting down the stairs. “It gave you a little bit of spark,” he said, “and you’re still exhausted, but you keep pushing yourself, and the amazing thing is you get up, you round the corner and they clock Continued on page 5
Helias Doundoulakis, who lived on Ann Street in Baldwin from 1962 to 2005, led an exciting and dangerous life as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, and later as a designer of the suspension system for the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, the largest radio telescope in the world. Doundoulakis died on Feb. 29, 2016, and his book “The Arecibo Antenna” was published posthumously by his ghostwriter, Gabriella Gafni, near the anniversary of his death this year, on Feb. 22. The book, Doundoulakis’s fifth, tells the story of the suspension system at Puer to Rico’s National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, known informally as Arecibo. The book tells of the World War II veterans who helped create the massive structure, and how Helias’s brother, George, led the effort to design it and win the patent rights for, among others, then Central Intelligence Agency Director William Casey and friend Gus Michalos, inspiring generations of space scientists in the years that followed. Xlibris, the self-publishing
other books by Helias: ‘I Was Trained to Be a Spy,’ books I and II ‘Trained to Be an OSS Spy’ ‘My Unique Lifetime Association with Patrick Leigh Fermor’ company that published the book, interviewed Doundoulakis before his death. “This book is not about the telescope itself or a lesson on Aristotelian debate,” he said. “Rather, it uncovers the contribution of George’s implacable devotion to science and exploration of the mysteries of the universe. “This book is a reflection not only of George’s sublime mastery of physics, da Vinci-like cleverness, and brotherly love,” Doundoulakis added. “It is also the story of Casey’s sleuth-like intelligence, his unrestrained Odyssean resourcefulness laced with Celtic charm. It is also about Michalos’s dogged determination, Hellenic pride, and Continued on page 9