Michael Tenenbaum (1913-2005) was a metallurgist and President of the Inland Steel Company from 1971 to 1978. Tenenbaum was born July 23, 1913 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Tenenbaum attended the University of Minnesota, receiving a degree in Metallurgical Engineering in 1936, an M. S. in 1937, and a PhD in metallurgy and physical chemistry in 1940. He received an honorary ScD was received from Northwestern University in 1974.

After receiving his PhD, Tenenbaum began working for Inland Steel Company as a metallurgist. He also held positions of assistant superintendent of quality control, and superintendent of the metallurgical department. During this period, he coordinated the company’s technical activities in research, quality control, production management, and sales. In 1961, Tenenbaum was promoted from assistant general manager of technical services to the position of general manager of research and quality control. Tenenbaum was vice president of research from 1966 to 1968, vice president of steel manufacturing from 1968 to 1971, and president of Inland Steel Company from 1971 to 1978. During his career, Tenenbaum was also a director and chairman of Caland Ore Co., Ltd., and a director of Jackson County Iron Co., Inland Steel Coal Co., Inland Steel Mining Co., J. T. Ryerson & Co., Inland-Ryerson Construction Products Co., Continental Illinois Corp., and Continental Illinois National Bank & Trust Co. Tenenbaum holds two patents: one patent covers an oxygen steel-making process, and the other is for a method for adding lead to steel. Tenenbaum has written many scientific and technical articles on metallurgy and the chemistry of steel refining.

Tenenbaum was a Howe Memorial lecturer in 1969, received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the University of Minnesota in 1967, and an award for excellence from Carnegie-Mellon in 1972. He has been a Fellow in the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers (serving as vice president in 1969 and on the board of directors from 1964 to 1970), and a member of the American Society for Metals, the Association of Iron and Steel Engineers, the Society of Automotive Engineers, and the Iron and Steel Institute (International, American and British). Tenenbaum is a former vice president and director of AIME, and a past president and director of The Metallurgical Society of AIME.