The following is a condensed, slightly paraphrased commentary offered by Harald’s son Eric:
Harald was born in 1938 in Berlin and emigrated from Germany at age 18 for work in Manitoba, Canada, at the nickel mines. After a few years of working in the mines and generally being exploited by German pit bosses, he escaped with a green card and went to Trinidad and Tobago to work at wiring hospitals.
Trinidad and Tobago was a much nicer climate to live and work in; he loved it. When his green card ran out or perhaps when the work dried up, he ended up in Miami, where he was drafted for Vietnam. He said he was sitting around in a crowd of other foreign nationals, unaware that as a green card holder he was eligible for the draft, when a Swedish national suggested he should volunteer for the Air Force. Otherwise he would most likely end up in combat. Having already lived through combat as a child, he decided to enlist and take control of his destiny. He served his four years at Eglin Air Force Base in western Florida. After that, he obtained a degree in marketing from Florida State, where he met my mom.
At some point the decision was made to relocate to Massachusetts, and Harald developed an interest in bicycle sales. He also became closely acquainted with Richard Forrestall during this time. They decided to form a partnership importing bikes from Germany. Eventually, they created two bike stores which were called the Bike Depot; one was in Wilmington and the other in Bedford.
After the decision to dissolve the partnership and production of the Avatar, Harald worked at Carlisle Tire and Rubber (Carlisle, Pa.). Most of his job involved selling off or liquidating their inner tube division, which was supposedly very substandard in their quality control. When he finished with that job he moved to Tallahassee, Florida. He was out of the bicycle business from that point forward. Unfortunately, Harald died unexpectedly in 2007 of a heart attack.
Harald Maciejewski obituary (Note – the obit mis-spells his first name – Harald is correct.
The following is an interesting quote of Eric:
“That is indeed Richard Forrestall. (on pages 2 and 3 of the sales brochure) He used to enjoy riding by groups of riders, eating an apple while speeding right past them in a very comfortable reclined position. Harald however was not much of a bike rider. I can’t say I ever really saw him riding the recumbent, which is kind of strange.” **(however Harald rode the Avatar at least once – see photo below from a Christian Science article – Avatar.pdf):
The next two photos were submitted by Eric Maciejewski:
