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 Rene R. Menendez
Rene R. Menendez was born in Havana, Cuba on 8/24/1917. In Rye he lived at 15 Purchase Street with his father Michael and his mother Consuelo. Rene’s father had a high school education, and worked as a waiter, he made roughly $1100.00 a year ($20,000 today). Rene’s mother had an eighth grade education, and was a homemaker.
Rene was a distinguished member of the Rye High School class of 1938. In high school Rene was a member of the National Honors Society, and participated in the leader athletics club, boxing club, and fingerprinting club. In addition Rene also ran track, and was placed on the varsity team.
Following high school Rene enrolled in Pace University, and received his CPA in 1941. In April of 1941 Rene’s life changed forever, when he was drafted into the US Army where he served in the Counter Intelligence Corps. The United States Army Counter Intelligence Corps (Army CIC) was a World War II and early Cold War intelligence agency within the United States Army consisting of highly trained Special Agents. On 13 December 1941 the Adjutant General of the Army issued an order renaming the former CIP as the Counter Intelligence Corps, effective from 1 January 1942. A new complement of 543 officers and 4,431 non-commissioned agents was authorized. The CIC recruited men with legal, police or other investigative backgrounds, and particularly looked for men with foreign language skills. After World War II, Rene stayed in the army and served again during the Korean War. After 21 years of service he retired in 1962 as lieutenant colonel.
Rene was then employed by Merck & Co., Rahway, N.J., for 27 years and retired as director of Subsidiary Administration for Latin America and Canada. He devoted many years of public service to the city of Rye, N.Y., and was an active member of the American Legion for over 50 years, until his death. He pioneered in international mergers, opened new branches and introduced new products for Merck & Co.
Rene R. Menendez, lieutenant colonel, U.S. Army, formerly of Rye, N.Y., passed away, after a brief illness on January 24, 2009, at the age of 91, in Norton, CT where he had been living since 2005. In addition to his wife of 65 years, Evelyn, he was survived by his daughter, Janet Antonopoulos and her husband Dimitrios of Norton; one granddaughter, Heather Kelly of Norton; one cousin, Elena Vidal of Miami; his sister-in-law, Lois DeMarco and her husband Vincent of Kent, Conn.
Austin Harvey
RHS 2021
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