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CLARENCE H. LINDER
1 903-1 994
BY WALTER L. ROBB
AT HIS MEMORIAL SERVICE on May 7, 1994, celebrating the life
of Clarence H. Linder, three of his grandchildren may have
said it best. He was above all, a gentleman, a kind parent, a
master storyteller, and a warm friend.
To those of us in the engineering profession, and to those
in his church, he was a leader, always thinking of ways to im-
prove the world we live in. Clarence led the drive to establish
the National Academy of Engineering. He lamented that the
academically oriented National Academy of Sciences ignored
the translation from basic research to the development of real
products (an issue that continues to be debated). In modest
triumph, he was a founding member of the National Academy
of Engineering and in 1970 became its first full-time presi-
dent.
Clarence received both bachelor's and master's degrees in
electrical engineering from the University of Texas. In 1924
he began his General Electric (GE) career in typical fashion,
on turbine night test. He qualified for the seconc! class of the
aclvanced engineering course and later served as an instructor
for these courses.
Clarence had assignments throughout the Schenectady
Works, which included serving as superintendent of the
Searchlight Department, a rapidly growing en cl critical busi-
ness at the start of World War II. During the 1940s he was
139
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140
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
assistant manager of the Schenectady plant, often filling in for
an ill works manager. In 1951 he was named manager of the
Major Appliance Division, and he had a key role in the cre-
ation of Appliance Park in Louisville, Kentucky.
In 1953 Clarence was appointed vice-president of eng~neer-
ing for the company, and in that position he traveled widely to
raise the standard of engineering throughout GE and
throughout the world. Then, in 1960, Ralph Cordiner asked
Clarence to become group executive for the Electric Utilities
Group, which was then badly in need of a highly creditable
general manager in the wake of a price-fixing scandal. As Mr.
Cordiner said, "Clarence has eve~yone's respect."
Clarence's retirement in 1963 marked the start of another
career aimed at upgrading the status of and respect for-
engineers in this country. It began with his leadership in
founding the Engineering Joint Council and the construction
of a new headquarters in New York City. The Council's objec-
tive was to bring together the leaders of all of the nation's
various engineering bodies.
Clarence was himself a leader in a number of professional
groups. He was a fellow and president of the American Insti-
tute of Electrical Engineers and the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers, from which he received the Haraden
Pratt Award in 1972. He was a fellow of the American Society
of Mechanical Engineers and a member of the American Soci-
ety for Engineering Education and the National Society of
Professional Engineers. He served on the executive commit-
tee of the Thomas Alva Edison Trustees and was active in the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation and at
Harvard University, Vermont Academy, and Union College.
Clarence received honorary degrees from Clarkson College,
Lehigh University, Union College, and Worcester Polytechnic
Institute. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from
the University of Texas in 1962.
In 1970 in a talk at Union College on the future of engi-
neering in the United States, Clarence emphasized British
architect Nicholas Butler's definition of engineering as "the
link, the bridge between man and nature; a bridge over which
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CLARENCE FI. LINDER
141
man passes to get into nature to control it, guide it, to under-
stand it, en c! a bridge over which nature and its forces pass to
get into man's field of interest and service."
Further in this remarkable speech, Clarence saicl; "About
two thousand years ago Vitruvius, the Roman engineer, ob-
served that the engineer 'should be a man of letters, a skillful
draftsman, a mathematician, familiar with historical studies, a
diligent student of philosophy, acquainted with music, not
ignorant of medicine, learned in the opinions of lawyers, fa-
miliar with astronomy and astronomical calculations. He
should be fair-minclecI, loyal, and what is more important,
without avarice, for no work can be done, truly done, without
good faith and clean hands. Let the engineer not be greedy,
nor have his mind busied with acquiring gifts, but let him with
seriousness guarc! his dignity by keeping a good name."'
What a wonderful description of Clarence Hugo Linder!
Clarence remains, today en cl for the future, a mocle! and
. . . ~ .
inspiration tor engineers.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
honorary degrees
