[1] Lenna (le-nā'), was born in Jamestown, New York, the son of Swedish American immigrants, and grew up there.

Lenna then entered Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he earned a degree in industrial engineering in 1936, and a commission in the U.S. Army the same year.

Lenna was involved in planning for the Invasion of Normandy and procuring machine tools for the Manhattan Project.

He positioned Blackstone to become the major supplier of radiator cores and heat exchangers to Chrysler and Volvo and opened two plants in Sweden.

[9] For most of the 20th century, Lenna's Blackstone Corporation was Jamestown's largest employer and one of the driving cores of the local economy.

[11] During his lifetime, Reginald Lenna made major philanthropic contributions to Southern Chautauqua County, including: