In Memoriam

Jim Jackson

Jim Jackson in the Worcester Area College Computation Center (WACCC) in the basement of the Gordon Library in the early days of WPI’s computer revolution.

James L. Jackson Jr., Former Director of WPI's Computer Center

James L. "Jim" Jackson Jr., who directed WPI's computer operations for more than three decades, passed away on June 27, 2009, after a long illness. Jackson's WPI career spanned the era of the mainframe computer and age of the global Internet, and he oversaw a service that grew to become one of the most important elements of WPI's academic and administrative life.

Born in New York City and raised in Connecticut, Jackson attended Marshall University for a year before enlisting in the U.S. Army, serving in the Signal Corps. He ultimately returned to Marshall, where he earned a degree in business administration.

He worked for West Virginia Steel Company and Arthur Wright's Men's Clothing store in West Virginia before moving to Connecticut, where held positions with IBM and Connecticut Life Insurance Company. In 1967, he joined WPI as director of the Worcester Area College Computation Center (WACCC), which filled part of the basement in the brand new Gordon Library (in the area now occupied by the library's archives and special collections). Established with a $260,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, WACCC and its one mainframe computer provided data processing support to WPI and, at one time, to as many as 50 other colleges and universities around the Northeast.

Mainframe computers continued to be the backbone of the university's computing resources for many years, but in the 1990s the personal computer revolution began in earnest and the computer center, renamed the College Computer Center (CCC; those initials today stand for Computing and Communications Center), began to grow to accommodate and support the rapidly expanding role of computing in all aspects of education and work at WPI.

The construction of a campus data network began in the late 1980s, and the network has been upgraded and extended multiple times since then to support the explosion in the speed and volume of data transmissions at WPI. By the time Jackson retired in 1999, the university was firmly enmeshed in the Internet age, desktop computers or laptops were on almost every desk, hundreds of computers hummed in labs across campus, and emails, files, and streams of data flew around campus through hundreds of miles of copper and fiber-optic cable. With such an expansive computer and networking infrastructure, WPI needed, as the WPI Journal put it, "a small army of dedicated men and women to maintain it, to train people to use it, and to help out when things go awry." Under Jackson, the CCC had become just that.

A resident of Northborough for the past 42 years, Jackson computerized the water billing systems in Northborough and Shrewsbury during the 1970s and not only served as a coach for the Northborough Little League Hawks, but was instrumental in computerizing the team schedules. He had a lifelong passion for opera and enjoyed tennis, basketball, golf, and cheering on the New England Patriots. He leaves his wife of 54 years, Anne Jackson, three sons, six daughters, and 12 grandchildren. He was predeceased by a brother and a sister.

Memorial donations may be made to the American Stroke Association [www.strokeassociation.org], Metro Worcester, 20 Speen Street, Framingham, MA  01701.

Roy F. Bourgault '42, Professor Emeritus, Mechanical Engineering

Roy F. Bourgault ‘42, emeritus professor of mechanical engineering, died May 22, 2009, in Hampstead, N.C., at the age of 89. He was a member of the WPI faculty from 1957 until his retirement in 1985. He also served two terms as secretary of the faculty and, for three decades, was the official photographer for WPI’s track and field events.

Born in Worcester, Bourgault earned a BS in mechanical engineering from WPI and went to work for American Steel & Wire (later U.S. Steel) just as America entered World War II. He served in the Army Air Corps during the war, then worked as a metallurgist while earning a master's degree from Stevens Institute of Technology.

As a WPI faculty member, Bourgault became a recognized expert in the field of failure analysis, contributing professionally and as an educator to the American Society for Metals and the Materials Division of the American Society for Engineering Education. In the 1970s, when WPI floated the idea of eliminating the football program to save money, Bourgault rallied more than a thousand supporters who convinced the Institute to keep the program going. He was inducted into the WPI Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987 as an unsung hero of WPI athletics.

In the Worcester community, Bourgault was a leader in the Chestnut Street and United Congregational churches and sang with the church choirs and the Worcester Chorus. He held prominent volunteer positions in the Mohegan Council of the Boy Scouts of America (earning the Silver Beaver Award), was a corporator of Colony Retirement Homes in Worcester, and was listed in Who's Who in America. He served as president of the Worcester Photo Color Club and was a 3-star exhibitor in the Photographic Society of America.

An avid whittler and wood carver , he had been active in the Cape Fear Woodcarvers Club in his adopted home state of North Carolina, serving as secretary-treasurer for the past two years, and was a member of the Garage People model ship-building club. He received numerous awards for his birds and other carvings in the Silver Arts Festival state-wide competitions. He was also a member of the Bell Choir of Topsail Presbyterian Church.

He leaves three sons, a daughter, a brother, his dear friend of the last few years, Ruth M. Best, six grandchildren, and several nephews and nieces. He was pre-deceased by his wife, Betty Mae (Arp) Bourgault, and a sister.

Memorial services will be held at Topsail Presbyterian Church in Hampstead, N.C., at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 30, and at United Congregational Church, 6 Institute Road, Worcester, at 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 13.

Memorial donations may be made to Lower Cape Fear Hospice of Wilmington, N.C., or to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society .

 

Carl H. Koontz, Professor Emeritus of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Carl H. Koontz, professor emeritus of civil engineering at WPI, died Wednesday, May 13, 2009. Koontz joined the WPI faculty in 1952 as an assistant professor of civil engineering and mathematics. He was promoted to associate professor in 1956, and in 1957 he became a full professor and head of the Civil Engineering Department. At 33, he was the youngest person to serve as a department head at WPI. He retired from WPI in 1986.

Born in Portage, Fla., Koontz served in the U.S. Army in the Pacific Theater during World War II, participating in the New Guinea and Luzon campaigns and the liberation of the Philippines. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering at the University of Illinois. In addition to serving on the faculty at the University of Illinois, he consulted on the design of blast resistant structures for the Armour Foundation and designed bridges for the state of Illinois before joining the WPI faculty.

As a registered professional engineer, he was a consultant to the Department of Defense, state and local governments, and architectural and engineering firms across the country and in Germany and Asia. He worked on civil, structural, and watershed and drainage area issues as well as disaster planning and environmental impact. He was also involved in civil defense and protective construction.

He was an advisor during the planning and design of dozens of notable structures in Worcester, including Doherty High School, Forest-Grove Junior High School, and the Assumption College Library. He was a special investigator for the state into the collapse of a bridge at College Square during the construction of I-290, and later consulted on a replacement bridge.

He served three terms on the Worcester City Council, 16 years on the Planning Board, and several years on the License Commission. He also contributed his professional expertise to countless city committees and served on the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission, the Worcester Urban Mass Transit Steering Committee, and the Worcester Consortium Environmental Studies Task Force.

Upon retirement from WPI, he became code commissioner for the city of Worcester, taking over from Norton Remmer '60. He immediately found himself in the public eye when he announced at a standing-room-only meeting at City Hall that he would suspend the issuance of building permits until an ordinance change imposing a limited building moratorium was advertised. Despite a backlash from builders, Koontz hung tough.

"Blessed with an infectious sense of humor and a long string of professional credentials," as the WPI Wire noted in 1986, he received numerous citations and awards throughout his career.

He leaves his wife, Arline F. (Murphy) Koontz, six children, nine grandchildren, a brother, and a sister.

Donations may be made to the WPI Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA  01609.

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