Myron Tribus Obituary

Name: Visitation for Myron Tribus
Start: 2016-09-07T22:00:00.000Z
End: 2016-09-08T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Bayview Fisher-Pou Chapel & Bayview Memorial Park

Myron Tribus

Myron Tribus, age 94, of Pensacola, FL, passed away on Wednesday, August 31, 2016. Visitation will be on Wednesday, September 7, 2016 at Bayview Fisher-Pou Chapel, 3351 Scenic Highway, Pensacola, FL, from 5:00pm until 7:00pm. The funeral service will be announced and held at a later date. Mr. Tribus is survived by his daughters: Kamala Tribus, Pensacola, FL and Lou Andreas Tribus, Milton Keys, England; his five grandchildren: Rafi Colman, Amanda Colman, Danielle Colman, Danny Sheptis and Margianne Shepetis. He was preceded in death by his wife of 66 years, Sue Tribus and his grandson, Jason Shepetis. Mr. Tribus is an American organizational theorist, who was the director of the Center for Advanced Engineering Study at MIT from 1974 to 1986. Born in San Francisco, Tribus graduated in 1942 from UC Berkley, and received his PhD in engineering from UCLA in 1949. He received honorary degrees from M.A. Dartmouth College in 1962 Sci. D., Rockford College, IL in 1965 and Sci.D., Oakland university, MI, in 1971. Tribus was a Captain in the United States Air Force during World War II, and worked as a design-development officer at Wright Field. He joined General Electric and became a gas turbine design engineer, but decided to go back into academia, joining the faculty of UCLA where he taught thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer. He was a visiting professor and director of research at the University of Michigan between 1951 and 1953. In 1961, he was named dean of Dartmouth College's Thayer School of Engineering., where he led the faculty in developing a new curriculum based on engineering design and entrepreneurship. He saw hands-on engineering design as being essential at all levels of the curriculum, saying, "Knowledge without know-how is sterile." In 1969, Tribus accepted a post in the Nixon administration as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Science and Technology. On November 23, 1970, he left the Department of Commerce after 18 months to become Senior V. P. for Research and Engineering in Xerox Corp. From 1974 to 1986 Tribus directed the Center for Advanced Engineering Study at MIT. Tribus is a co-founder of Exergy Inc., a company specializing in the design of advanced, high-efficiency power production systems. In recent years he has focused on the theory of structural cognitive modifiability of Reuven Feuerstein. Mr. Tribus was best known for his work as an inventor of de-icing systems for airplanes; studies in thermodynamics; for popularizing the Bayesian methods and for coining the term "thermoeconomics"; his studies in probability statistics, and decision making theory; and later in life as a leading supporter of Edward W. Deming and interpreter of Quality Management & Business Theory. It was for this work that in Pensacola, he was given the keys to the city. Tribus' awards included, elected member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1973, under Special Fields & Interdisciplinary Engineering, for his contributions to applied sciences that support engineering, to engineering education, and for professional service in education, government, and industry; he received The Thurman Bane award; The Wright Brothers Medal; The Alfred Noble Prize as a joint award from seven societies for his work developing a therma ice protection system for aircraft; Engineering Alumnus of the Year, 1971-1972, UCLA; The Deming Lecturer Award in 1988 for "The Contributions of W. Edwards Deming to the Improvement of Education". Tribus served on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics; National Academy of Sciences, Materials Advisory Board (NATO); Advisory group on aeronautical research & development; Commerce Technical Advisory Board, U> S> Dept. of Commerce; National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmospheres; Board of Governors, Technion, Haifa, Israel. His works included two books he published; Thermostatiatics and Thermodynamics, which provided the first textbook that bases the laws of thermodynamics on information theory rather than on the classical arguments, and Rational Descriptions, Decisions, and Designs, which introduces Bayesian Decision methods into the engineering design process. Mr. Tribus was a highly devoted family man who "was always there for us". Online condolences may be made at www.bayviewfisher-pouchapel.com

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Published by the Pensacola News Journal on Sep. 7, 2016.

Memories and Condolences
for Myron Tribus

Sponsored by Bayview Fisher-Pou Chapel & Bayview Memorial Park.

5 Entries

Franklin Schargel

September 1, 2020

Four years later, he is in my thoughts. I still continue to miss him, his thoughts, his wisdom, his insights.

Andrea Higginbottom

September 9, 2016

Sorry to hear of your loss - the world has lost a special man.

Franklin Schargel

September 9, 2016

Myron was like a second father to me. He was always there, willing to help and not asking anything in return. He will be sadly missed by many.

Elsa Garmire

September 8, 2016

I first met Myron Tribus at a conference I don't remember when or where, but it was before 1990 in the Bay Area (California). I heard him make comments from the floor about engineering education and I decided then and there that he was the smartest man I'd ever heard. I went up to him afterwards and asked questions he was friendly, open and I became convinced he was one of the nation's Renaissance geniuses. I was careful to remember his name.

In 1995 I visited Dartmouth College to interview for Dean of Thayer School of Engineering. There I learned about the most exciting engineering school in America. I was quite surprised to discover that this same Myron Tribus had totally transformed the school 25 years earlier. The institutional memory of his tenure burned bright and the faculty universally supported his ideas for project-based, interdisciplinary engineering education. As a result of Tribus and his leadership, Dartmouth had become an innovative leader, providing proof of how effective this new approach to engineering education was. My coming to Dartmouth was definitely motivated by the fact that I knew Myron and admired his brilliance.

While I was Dean, Myron and friends funded the Myron Tribus Professorship of Engineering Innovation. Professor John Collier was awarded this because, over the years, he had continuously championed the project-based course Dean Tribus had introduced, Introduction to Engineering. This is now Thayer's most popular engineering sciences course and provides students a basis for their innovative education, featuring the interdisciplinary systems approach that Dean Tribus also introduced.

It is thanks to the Tribus initiatives of the 1960's that the National Academy of Engineering awarded Thayer with the 2014 Gordon Prize for its successful program in developing future engineering leaders. Tribus' impact has lasted more than 50 years! He will be long be remembered at Thayer School of Engineering.

September 7, 2016

Even as an adult, I still call him Mr. Tribus. Where many knew him in academia, I knew him as Kammy's father and good friend to me. He was loving, caring, open, and available. We spent many a Sunday morning relaxing over banana and chocolate crepes or eggs Benedict. He was all calmness when the ceiling below the bathtub collapsed while I was taking a bath in their lovely Brookline home. When I was ill for a week with the flu I was cared for in his home with love and attention. He traveled to my wedding and gave a toast I will always remember. He said that marriages were made in heaven and worked out on earth and encouraged us to build our marriage from the inside because marriages are assaulted. We have followed this advice and are married 31 years later. He was a genius and he was wise and he was just plain good. I'm fortunate to have known him.

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