Alexander Matiuk

Alexander Matiuk March 28, 1917 - December 30, 2009 Resident of Danville Alexander, age 92, with family at his side, died peacefully on December 30, 2009 after suffering a stroke in his Danville home. Mr. Matiuk, first child to Daniel and Mary Matiuk, was born March 28, 1917 In Brooklyn, New York. His 91 year-old sister, Luba Dorman resides in Cincinnati, Ohio. Ann Matiuk, his wife of 69 years to whom he was married in Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Brooklyn on May 25, 1940 continues to reside in their Danville home. Mr. Matiuk received a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1938 from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, an institution established in 1859 on the principle that children of immigrants and the working class deserved access to education and that education should be "as free as water and air" - a philosophy that served as a foundation for his fervent belief in the power of education to improve the circumstances of all individuals. He received his Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of New York. Mr. Matiuk began his long engineering career at Ebasco Services where he worked from 1943 until 1955, interrupted by a brief stint at United Engineers and Constructors in Philadelphia. In 1955 he moved to Burns & Roe, where he was vice president and director of the engineering division. Mr. Matiuk joined Gibbs & Hill, Inc. in 1962 as Vice President-Engineering, became Executive Vice President in 1973, and was elected President and Chief Executive Officer by the Board of Directors in May 1977. In October 1981, he was designated Chairman of the Board. Mr. Matiuk was a Fellow in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and a member of the American Society of Naval Engineers. In 1980, he received both the Gano Dunn Award from his alma mater, The Cooper Union, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Centennial Award. The Gano Dunn Medal is awarded annually to an outstanding alumnus for his professional achievement in the fields of science and engineering. Over the course of his engineering career, Mr. Matiuk logged in excess of two million miles traveling to over 30 countries on five of the seven continents (missing only Africa and Antarctica). An avid photographer, he amassed thousands of slide photographs from the numerous professional overseas trips he made-often accompanied by his wife, Ann-from 1952 through 1985 as well as from the many vacation trips they made together before and after his retirement. Mr. Matiuk was an avid supporter of the arts and enthusiastic outdoorsman always in love with the mountains and seashore. He was an accomplished violinist, enjoyed writing poetry but above all, was a devoted and loving husband, father and grandfather. Mr. Matiuk's community activities spanned the gamut from volunteer school board work in 1955 in Roosevelt, Long Island-including the chairmanship of the building committee for new schools in the community-to his participation, beginning in 1987, in the establishment and administration of The Holy Spirit Orthodox Church in Venice, Florida. In addition to his wife, Ann, and sister, Luba, Mr. Matiuk is survived by his three sons (Alexander Matiuk, Jr. and his wife, Martha, residing in Houston, Texas; Greg and Rita Matiuk of Danville, California; and Conrad and Angelika Matiuk from Lexington, Virginia); four grandchildren (Greg and Rita's children Christine Ann Christensen and her husband, Kevin Michael ("Casey") Christensen; and Danielle Marie Matiuk; and Conrad and Angelika's children Franziska Lea Matiuk and Jonathan Daniel Matiuk); and two great-grandchildren (Christie and Casey's children James Alexander Christensen and Julia Marie Christensen). The following poem, derived from a Sanskrit proverb, was in Mr. Matiuk's papers. It is an apt summation of his beliefs. . . For yesterday is already a dream, And tomorrow is only a vision, But today, well lived, Makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, And every tomorrow a vision of hope, Look well therefore to this day, Such is the salutation of the dawn. . . A viewing at 5:00 p.m., followed by a memorial service at 7:00 p.m., will be held at Oak Park Hills Chapel in Walnut Creek on January 3, 2010. In lieu of flowers, gifts in his memory may be made to St. Michael the Archangel Orthodox Church at P.O. Box 728, Concord, CA 94522-0728 or The Food Bank of Contra Costa.