AP: UC alum Arnold Spielberg dies
Father to the famous director was a Cincinnati native
The Associated Press reported on the death this week of University of Cincinnati alumnus and engineer Arnold Spielberg, father of Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg.
Spielberg, 103, was a native of Cincinnati, where he began raising his four children before moving to New Jersey.
He served as a radio operator for the 490th Bomb Squadron during World War II. Stories of his war experiences would inspire his son's 1998 movie "Saving Private Ryan." After the war, he graduated from UC with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1949.
He co-oped at Crosley Corp.
Spielberg worked RCA and General Electric Co., helping to build one some of the most powerful mainframe computers of the 1950s.
"I tried to get him interested in engineering," Spielberg told GE Reports of his famous son. "But his heart was in the movies."
Leah Posner Spielberg, Spielberg's ex-wife and mother of their four children, also grew up in Cincinnati and graduated from UC's College-Conservatory of Music. She died in 2017.
Related Stories
UC community unites Oct. 22-24, cheering the Bearcats 'Onward to Victory'
October 19, 2026
The University of Cincinnati community will gather Oct. 22-24 to celebrate its 100th Homecoming festivities. This year's "Onward to Victory" theme is borrowed from the lyrics to "Cheer Cincinnati," one of UC's signature songs.
Plan ahead for UC Homecoming activites
October 19, 2026
UC Homecoming activities on Saturday, Oct. 24, will feature the annual Homecoming Parade around campus starting four hours prior to kickoff and the football game versus Texas Tech in UC's Historic Nippert Stadium.
Got three minutes? Present your research for a chance to win $1,500
October 19, 2026
The University of Cincinnati’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition challenges graduate students to explain their research or scholarship to people outside their field in just three minutes using a single slide. Applications for the 2027 competition open Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, giving graduate students a chance to sharpen a skill that can make a difference far beyond graduate school.