Karl Lambrecht, 97, a pioneer in the field of optics manufacturing, died Monday, Jan. 22, in Acapulco, where he had been living for more than 20 years. With no more than a 6th-grade education, the self-taught optician founded his own optics company, developed techniques to transform calcite into finished optical prisms and gained an international reputation for his precision and for the quality of his products, his family said. A native of Celle, Germany, Mr. Lambrecht left his homeland as a teenager as a stowaway on a ship headed toward Central America. He earned his passage by scraping and painting the ship. In the mid-1920s, Mr. Lambrecht settled in Chicago and took a job as a machinist at an optics manufacturing company. There, he came up with techniques to manufacture calcite prisms and crystal polarizers. After hours, he developed ways to transform calcite into finished prisms, and in 1933, unofficially started up his own business. During World War II, Mr. Lambrecht directed the manufacturing operations for large prisms and lenses at Bell & Howell Co., his family said. In 1946, he founded Crystal Optics in Chicago, now known as the Karl Lambrecht Corp., which has customers in research labs and the telecommunications industry. Near the business, an honorary street sign was erected in his name. By the 1950s, Mr. Lambrecht established worldwide mining operations. In 1975, he received an industry award for his lifelong dedication to his field. Mr. Lambrecht is survived by his fourth wife, Guadalupe; four daughters, Caroline Smith, Anita Banas, Carolina Anouti and Pompeya Brock; three sons, Carl, Raymond and Alvin; 17 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. Visitation will be from 9 a.m. until services at 11 a.m. Saturday in Smith-Corcoran Funeral Home, 6150 N. Cicero Ave., Chicago.
