Albert grew up in Los Angeles surrounded by his cousins the Northrops, Johansings and the Gesners. One of his favorite memories growing up in LA was being invited by his uncle Jack Northrop to visit the new Northrop Aircraft Plant and airfield in Hawthorn, CA, just outside of Los Angeles.

Albert was able to witness the flight of Northrop’s Flying Wing, a single-winged prototype aircraft designed for the military as a heavy bomber in preparation for an inevitable war with Germany.

After graduating from Loyola High School in L.A., Albert enlisted in the Navy. He was stationed in the Philippines during World War II, where he served as a fire engineer at the base fire station. He later served as a fire engineer with the Construction Battalion 122 Seabees. Like many of our nation’s greatest generation, he did not speak much about his experience in the war.  ust a few black and white photos and a short story on occasion.

After the war, Albert returned to L.A., where he enrolled in the Los Angeles City College. He then transferred to UC Santa Barbara, where he graduated in 1950 with a degree in botany.

Applying his newfound expertise in botany, Albert contributed to the post-war re-forestation of Germany. Albert’s uncle, Dr. Ernest Martin and wife Dr. Illa Martin, planted a sequoia farm in Kaldenkirchen, Germany.

Albert gathered giganteum sequoia (giant sequoia) cones from several different elevations in the Sierra sequoia forests of California. He wrapped the cones in burlap to preserve them and sent them to Germany. The Kaldenkirchen Grenzwald Arboretum, bordering Germany and the Netherlands today, is one of great environmental importance in Germany.