Remembering Devoted IEEE Volunteer Gus Gaynor

Gerard “Gus” Gaynor, a long-serving IEEE volunteer and former engineering director at 3M, died on 9 March. The IEEE Life Fellow was 104.

Readers of The Institute would possibly keep in mind Gus from his 2022 profile: “From Fixing Farm Equipment to Becoming a Director at 3M.” Simply final yr, he and I coauthored twoarticles. One discusses how to leverage relationships to boost your career growth. The opposite weighs the pros and cons of pursuing a technical or managerial career path. He was 103 years outdated then. What number of IEEE members can declare a centenarian coauthor?

I first met Gus in 2009 on the IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB) assembly in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We sat collectively within the airplane on our method again to Minneapolis, our hometown. At residence I instructed lots of my mates in regards to the exceptional particular person—who was 87 years younger on the time—with whom I chatted throughout our six-hour flight.

A decade later, he and I met for lunch in Minneapolis. He drove himself to the restaurant, simply asking for a hand to navigate the snowy sidewalk.

A devoted IEEE volunteer

Gus’s involvement with IEEE predates the group. He joined the Institute of Radio Engineers, a predecessor society, as a scholar member in 1942. Twenty years later he grew to become an energetic IEEE volunteer.

He served on the TAB’s finance committee and the Publications Services and Products Board. He was president of the IEEE Engineering Management Society (now the Technology and Engineering Management Society ), and he was the Technology Management Council’s first president. He was the founding editor of IEEE-USA’s on-line journal Today’s Engineer, which reported on authorities legislation and points affecting U.S. members’ careers. The journal is now obtainable because the e-newsletter IEEE-USA InSight.

He authored a number of books on technology management, revealed by IEEE-USA.

IEEE Life Fellow Gerard “Gus” Gaynor died on 9 March.The Gaynor Household

Most not too long ago, after the formation of TEMS in 2015, he grew to become an energetic member of its govt committee. He served two phrases as vice chairman of publications.

At 100 years outdated, he led the launch of a brand new publication, TEMS Leadership Briefs, a novel short-format open-access publication geared toward know-how leaders.

Gus, who’s a former member of The Institute’s editorial advisory board, additionally labored with Kathy Pretz, The Institute’s editor in chief, to start out an ongoing collection of TEMS-sponsored career-interest articles. He coauthored a number of of them.

All through his 64 years as an IEEE volunteer, he acquired a number of honors. They embody IEEE EMS’s Engineering Supervisor of the 12 months Award, the IEEE TEMS Profession Achievement Award, and the IEEE-USA McClure Citation of Honor. In 2014 he was inducted into the IEEE Technical Activities Board Hall of Honor.

A 25-year profession at 3M

Gus acquired a level in electrical engineering in 1950 from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He labored for a number of corporations together with Automatic Electric (now a part of Nokia) and Johnson Farebox (now a part of Genfare), earlier than becoming a member of 3M in 1962.

Throughout his profitable 25-year profession at 3M, he served as chief engineer for a division in Italy, established the innovation division, and led the design and set up of the corporate’s first computerized manufacturing services. He retired as director of engineering in 1987.

Final yr, IEEE Life Fellow Michael Condry, a former TEMS president, organized a Zoom name with Gus and different leaders of the society to rejoice Gus’s 104th birthday. Gus regarded properly and was his regular upbeat self, telling everybody: “I’m good. Every little thing’s properly. I can’t complain.”

Gus was married to Shirley Margaret Karrels Gaynor, who handed away in 2018. He lives on within the hearts and minds of his seven kids, seven grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and innumerable mates and IEEE colleagues.