Tech Topics - Spring 2009 - (Page 33) BURDELL & FRIENDS was a member of the Order of the Arrow, Retired Officers Association, National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and Mayflower Society and a charter member of the National World War II Memorial Society. William R. “Bill” Harris Jr., CE 39, a resident of Gainesville, Ga., on Dec. 7. A licensed engineer, he worked as executive director of the Gainesville Nonprofit Development Foundation and spent his later years as a Realtor and broker. Mr. Harris was an officer in the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II in the Pacific theater, constructing Air Force facilities and hospitals in Saipan and Okinawa. After the war, he owned and operated Harris Electric Co. before joining Lockheed Nuclear Laboratory as an engineer. A Sunday school teacher and ordained deacon, Mr. Harris held leadership roles in the Boy Scouts, Young Life and the Good News Community Medical Clinic. Augustus Charles “Gus” Keiser Jr., ME 32, of Horseshoe Bay, Texas, on Oct. 17. Mr. Keiser was a retired mechanical engineer. Nathan Lobman, EE 35, a resident of Memphis, Tenn., on Nov. 11. A member of Zeta Beta Tau at Tech, he served as a lieutenant in the Navy during World War II. Robert “Bob” Logan, Cls 38, of Smyrna, Ga., on Oct. 29. His studies at Tech were interrupted by his service in the Army Air Corps as a rated pilot. In 1944, he was assigned to India, where he flew supplies, ammunition and personnel across the Himalayan Mountains to China. Upon the completion of his military service in 1945, he returned to Tech, where he worked as the bookstore manager and later as director of Auxiliary Services. Mr. Logan also organized the Yellow Jackets Flying Club at the Institute and served as an adviser. He served in the Civil Air Patrol at Georgia Wing headquarters and was presented the rank of lieutenant colonel by Gov. George Busbee. In 2004, he received the Federal Aviation Administration’s Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, which is presented to pilots with 50 or more years of flying without an accident. He flew 31 different kinds of aircraft during his career. Alvin Wallace Nissenbaum, Cls 37, of Atlanta, on Nov. 3. Mr. Nissenbaum spent his entire business career of 45 years with National Linen Service. In 1980, he retired as president of the company, a position he Fundraiser, Philanthropist Polly Poole Dies ames Parrot “Polly” Poole, IM 42, a former president of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association, longtime trustee of the Georgia Tech Foundation and member of the College of Management Hall of Fame, died Jan. 7 at the age of 88. Mr. Poole, who was the founder and owner of Employer-Employee Security Plans Inc. and later James P. Poole Co., gave generously of his time and fortune to the Institute in the decades following graduation. He served as president of the Greater Atlanta Georgia Tech Club and later became president of the Alumni Association, serving from 1971 to ’72. A dedicated fundraiser for the Institute, Mr. Poole served as vice chairman of the steering committee for the Georgia Tech Centennial Campaign, which had raised more than $202 million at its close in 1988. As chair of the Class of 1942 50th reunion committee in 1992, he helped raise more than $600,000 for the campus’ Student Success Center. In making a commitment of $1.6 million to the Georgia Tech Capital Campaign in 1997, Mr. Poole told TECH TOPICS, “I have a great desire to help people. … Some of us need to plant trees that we will never sit under.” Mr. Poole was a trustee of the Georgia Tech Foundation for 30 years; a member of the College of Management’s advisory board; a founder of Georgia Tech Charitable Life Inc.; and a life member of the Athletic Association’s Alexander-Tharpe Fund. In 1988, he was presented the Alumni Association’s Joseph Mayo Pettit Alumni Distinguished Service Award, and in 2004, he was one of the first alumni inducted into the College of Management’s Hall of Fame. The college’s Dorothy Gay and James P. Poole Learning Wing was named for Mr. Poole and his wife. Born in Americus, Ga., Mr. Poole became interested J in Georgia Tech as a young boy. While attending the Institute, he was president of Alpha Tau Omega and a member of ANAK and Omicron Delta Kappa. A Navy veteran, he served as a radar officer aboard the USS Lander in the Pacific fleet during World War II. In 1953, he was named one of Atlanta’s “100 Leaders of Tomorrow” by Time magazine. For eight years, Mr. Poole was a member of the executive committee of the World Methodist Council and for five years served as vice chairperson of its world evangelism committee. From 1985 to ’87, he chaired the board of the Haggai Institute, an organization dedicated to training and equipping Christian leaders working in Third World countries. Memorials in his name may be made to the Georgia Tech Foundation. held for five years. As a child, he played violin in the Atlanta Junior Symphony. James K. Rankin, ME 36, of Atlanta, on Nov. 3. Mr. Rankin retired from Reynolds Metals Co. in 1982, after a 23-year career with the company. While at Georgia Tech, he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, the track and cross-country teams and Omicron Delta Kappa. Following graduation, he served in the Navy, achieving the rank of commander. Frank K. Webb, ME 38, of Texas City, Texas, on Nov. 24. Mr. Webb rose in the ranks of Pan American Refining to assume overall charge of refineries across the country. In 1962, he headed a task force for the company in Paris, negotiating projects in Western Europe. From 1941 to 1946, he served in the Army Ordnance Department and Air Corps in various posts in the United States. He later served as the base section ordnance officer and commanding officer of the 49th Ordnance Battalion in Calcutta, India, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was a member of the Rotary Club of Texas City and a recipient of the Vocational Service Award in 1997. Mr. Webb was a longtime member of the Texas City Tourism and Recreation Board. At Georgia Tech, he served as a member of Tau Beta Pi, Kappa Kappa Pi, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the marching band and Delta Tau Delta. In 1992, he was hon- TechTopics | Spring 2009 33
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.