Henry Clark Bourne Jr.

BOURNE WINSTON-SALEM - Dr. Henry Clark Bourne, Jr., 88, of Winston-Salem, died Thursday, March 25, 2010 after a courageous battle with congestive heart failure. A Memorial Service will be held Monday, March 29 at 2 p.m. at Calvary Episcopal Church in Tarboro, NC. He was born in Tarboro on December 31, 1921. He graduated from Virginia Episcopal School (VES) in 1940. He earned his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), while interrupting his studies to serve in the Army Corp of Engineers from 1943 to 1946. After graduating from MIT in 1952, he served on the MIT faculty till 1954. From 1954 to 1963 he served as a professor of electrical engineering at the University of California at Berkley and as chairman of the electrical engineering department at Rice University from 1963 to 1974 and professor from 1963 to 1979. Between 1979 and 1981, he was the deputy assistant director of Engineering and Applied Science at the National Science Foundation in Washington, DC. In 1981 he joined the staff at the Georgia Institute of Technology as the vice-president of Academic Affairs, a post he held until 1986 when he assumed the role of acting president. After a year as acting president, he returned to his role as vice-president of Academic Affairs for an additional year before returning to the classroom as a professor emeritus of electrical engineering. He retired full time in 1993. His contributions to the engineering field earned him several honors and awards including being named an honorary research associate at the University College of London, a fellow and lifetime member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was a member of numerous professional organizations and honor societies such as the American Society of Engineering Education, American Physical Society, Sigma Xi, Tau Beta Pi, and Eta Kappa Nu). His love of books and life-long learning of intellectual and cultural pursuits contributed to his and his wife's desire to fund "The Margaret T. and Henry C. Bourne Jr. Chair in Poetry" at Georgia Tech, as well as scholarships funds at VES and GT. Besides being an avarious reader, he was also an avid skier since his MIT days; the outdoors and the mountains, along with his family, were his personal passion. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Margaret Thomas Bourne of Winston-Salem; a sister, June Bourne Long of Roanoke Rapids; a brother, Joel K. Bourne of Tarboro; a daughter, Katherine Bourne Church of Castle Rock, CO; a son, Henry Clark Bourne, III of Denver; a son, Thomas Franklin Bourne of Atlanta; a daughter, Margaret Bourne Dickinson of Winston-Salem; and ten grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, contributions to Calvary Episcopal Churchyard Committee or "The Henry and Margaret Bourne Scholarship Fund" at Georgia Tech would be welcome.