CLIFFORD L. SAYRE JR.

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CLIFFORD SAYRE Obituary

Dr. CLIFFORD L. SAYRE, JR. (Age 88)
On Thursday, January 14, 2016, of Silver Spring, MD. Beloved husband of the late Rose Morton Sayre; father of Clifford L. (Catherine) Sayre, III and Marie (David) Cole; grandfather of Philip and Kimberly Sayre. Relatives and friends may call at Collins Funeral Home, 500 University Boulevard West, Silver Spring, MD, (Valet Parking), Tuesday, February 2, 2016 from 7 to 9 pm and on Wednesday, February 3, 2016 from 12 to 1 p.m., where Funeral Service will be held at 1 p.m. Graveside Service and Inurnment Arlington National Cemetery Columbarium at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Georgetown University Memory Disorders Program, Administrative Office, Building D, Suite 177, 4000 Reservoir Road, N.W., Washington DC 20057 or The A. James Clark School of Engineering at The University of Maryland, https://giving.umd.edu/giving/showSchool. php?name=engineering.comwww.COLLINSFUNERALHOME.com

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Published by The Washington Post from Jan. 24 to Jan. 31, 2016.

Memories and Condolences
for CLIFFORD SAYRE

18 Entries

J.Paul Smith

February 13, 2016

Dear Marie-
Today I read about your dad's passing. Please accept my belated sympathy. I remember both of your parents and how proud they were of you. I should also add that you were the FIRST of my students I met. Mrs. Kittredge brought you to my room on teacher prep day in August of 1971. I have fond and vivid memories of those exciting Glen Haven days. I hope you are coping well with
your loss. You have a special place in my thoughts.

Cindy, Caleb and Eli Cramer-Garnette

February 2, 2016

Cliff was such a vital part of the neighborhood! We enjoyed his stories, looking at his movies and pictures (especially the Galapagos Islands!), his trains, and his daily walks to throw the newspapers up on the porches. During his last walks, he sang "Old McDonald" with a twinkle in his eye. We missed him when he moved out of the neighborhood and will miss him more now. We are so glad we got to know him!

Tracey Cramer

January 31, 2016

Cliff was one of the first people to welcome us to the neighborhood almost twelve years ago. He was very kind and informative and shared the history of the neighborhood with us, including a brochure of the home models available before the development was built. We enjoyed his company at many of our cookouts and a few New Year's Eve parties. We appreciated his early morning walks around the neighborhood to move everyone's newspaper to a more convenient location on their front steps. He was ever the kind and thoughtful neighbor and friend, and we miss him!

Cliff demonstrating an experiment during a summer program for minority students.

Marie Sayre Cole

January 29, 2016

One of my friends found this 1980 Washington Post story about my Dad's design class at UMd - it's a classic: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1980/12/08/engineering-students-crank-up-inventions/b7e9f341-6aef-45da-874c-2f78e778a1b1/

January 27, 2016

Cliff Sayre was one of the kindest people I had the pleasure of knowing and the consummate professor. He loved the University of Maryland and Mechanical Engineering in particular. It was always wonderful seeing him at UMD alumni events, Mechanical Engineering Design Day, and especially Maryland Day. My thoughts and prayers go to Cliff's wonderful family. We are all so lucky to have known Professor Cliff Sayre, Jr. - teacher and friend. I am truly grateful to have had Cliff pass through my life.

Elizabeth Boisvert

January 26, 2016

He will always be remembered in the community as the man who loved to travel and share those travels with others.

January 25, 2016

Dr. Sayre had retired before I joined the University of Maryland family, however his legacy will never be forgotten. As you grieve may you be comforted knowing the Holy scriptures offers to us thoughts of peace, a future and a hope.

Gettysburg Battlefield, visiting Cliff's Grandmother Sayre, circa 1964

Marie Cole

January 24, 2016

Cliff, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where his parents' families resided, spent his childhood in Buffalo, New York. He remembered growing up in Buffalo fondly, recalling his newspaper route, learning to do research in the Buffalo public library, visiting Niagara Falls and traveling throughout western New York State with his father who was a traveling salesman for Harbison and Walker Refractories Company. Cliff and his mother also accompanied his father to Washington, D.C. for his Army reserve duty. Cliff completed his first two years of high school at Buffalo Technical High School. The family moved to Arlington, Virginia when his father returned to active duty in Washington, D.C. during WWII. Cliff graduated from Western High School (now the Duke Ellington School of the Arts) in Washington, D.C., in 1944.

In June 1944, Cliff enrolled in the V-12 Navy College Training Program at Duke University studying naval subjects along with his engineering classes as an apprentice seaman. WWII ended before he completed the V-12 program and he was deactivated in 1946 from the Navy, joining the Navy ROTC for his final year at Duke. While at Duke, he joined the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Pi Tau Sigma, an honorary mechanical engineering fraternity, and Sigma Chi, a social fraternity. He graduated in 1947 with a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering and was commissioned as an Ensign in the US Navy. He was assigned to the USS Hobson from 1947 to 1949 where he first served as an assistant engineer and damage control officer. After being promoted to First Lieutenant, he served as the minesweeping officer.

Cliff returned to inactive duty in the US Navy Reserve in 1949 and moved to Hoboken, New Jersey to attend Stevens Institute of Technology. At Stevens, he was a Fellow of the Experimental Towing Tank, performing model testing of seaplanes and high-speed planning watercraft, while completing his M.S. in mechanical engineering, specializing in fluid mechanics. Living in Stevens Castle, he had an exceptional view of Hudson River ship traffic and tracked the ship companies according to their smoke stack markings. He continued to work at the Experimental Towing Tank as a project engineer through 1951, until he was recalled to active duty as Lieutenant JG in the US Navy in 1952 due to the Korean War.

While on active duty from 1952-53, he was assigned to the David Taylor Model Basin in Carderock, Maryland as a project engineer where he was responsible for full-scale and model testing projects in ship and seaplane hydrodynamics. While at DTMB, he met Rose Katherine Morton, who worked as a mathematician in the hydrodynamics department researching analytical solutions related to fluid motion and performing calculations on experimental data. They married in October 1953 and moved to an apartment near Sligo Creek Parkway in Silver Spring, Maryland. They moved to their longtime residence in Wheaton, Maryland in 1956, where Cliff resided through 2014.

He began his doctoral studies in mechanical engineering at the University of Maryland while continuing to work on projects in hydrodynamics at the DTMB. He joined the University of Maryland faculty as an assistant professor in 1955 and received his Ph.D. in 1961. He continued on the faculty at University of Maryland through 1987 as a full professor and served as associate Dean of Engineering for several years during his tenure. In 1967, he was a resident visiting professor at the University of the Philippines in Manilla and a consultant to the Ford Foundation to improve their graduate engineering program.
While at the University of Maryland, he pursued his passion for teaching and enhanced the curriculum of the engineering department. He was particularly interested in the process of design and was instrumental in establishing the Senior Level Design Projects course in Mechanical Engineering. He extended this focus on the hands-on approach to learning engineering by adapting these methods to create an engineering college-wide freshman-level project design course to introduce engineering students to the concepts of design. He also had significant involvement in an engineering summer program for minority scholars and women to encourage them to enter and succeed in the field of engineering. He authored an early book on computer aided design in 1985; Design and Graphics Using the Apple Computer an Engineer's Guide. During his career, he received numerous awards from industry and academic organizations, as well as the College of Engineering and various University of Maryland graduating classes recognizing his exceptional contributions to the teaching of engineering, including the first College of Engineering Outstanding Teaching Award in 1986. In 1991, he shared his passion for teaching with several Chinese colleges and universities on a four week tour lecturing to faculty, administrators and students about the US engineering curricula. In 1993, he was appointed Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland and in 1998 received an A. James Clark School of Engineering Outstanding Commitment Award.

Throughout his life, Cliff was a naval history and wargaming enthusiast. He was one of the first members of the Potomac Wargamers and was active in the Historic Miniatures Gaming Society, helping out at the early conventions and authoring occasional articles for various gaming magazines.

In the community, Cliff was a leader and chaperone for Cub Scout, Boy Scout and Girl Scout activities, as well as the Parkland Pool swim team.

After retiring from the University of Maryland in 1987, Cliff researched his and Rose's family genealogy, producing numerous volumes of family history. He was active in the Montgomery County Genealogical and Historical Societies, as well as the Maryland Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

During his retirement, he lectured throughout Montgomery County at club meetings, senior centers and senior residences on genealogy and his extensive travels. He shared travelogues on his journeys to the South Pacific, China, Alaska, Antarctica, northern Europe and the Panama Canal. His interest particular in Easter Island led him to visit several times and become active in the Eastern Pacific Research Foundation, a non-profit archaeological research foundation, serving as their President from 1993-95 and treasurer for several years.