Ingenuin and Herbert Hechenbleikner papers

Herbert Hechenbleikner was an educator and all-around naturalist, with great interests in horticulture (especially rhododendrons), landscape design, and herpetology. Hechenbleikner earned his undergraduate degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1931. He earned both Masters Degree and Doctoral Degree (1936) at Harvard University. His doctoral thesis was entitled “Studies on the Chamaeleontidae.” He served in the United States Army from 1941-1944. He joined the faculty of Charlotte College in 1949, and continued to serve on the faculty when it transitioned to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He became a Professor Emeritus of UNCC in 1976. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte Botanical Garden was founded by Dr. Hechenbleikner with the support of Ms. Bonnie Cone and Mr. Ralph Van Landingham. Herbert Hechenbleikner's father, Ingenuin Sr., was a chemist who held many patents and was a foremost scientist in the field of acid and concrete. Born in Austria, he came to America and specifically to the Piedmont region of NC to work for James B. Duke.