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Memorial Tributes Volume 1 (1979) / Chapter Skim
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Gordon Maskew Fair
Pages 45-50

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From page 45...
... To engineers, the beautiful bridge, the soaring office building, or the graceful dam offer visible evidence of the translation of ideas into the service of man. Professionals choose many routes to attain their major purposes in life.
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From page 46...
... One of his colleagues in that activity describes him well in these terms: "Whether it be in the swamps of Sardinia, in the jungles of Brazil, in the lecture rooms of the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris or in the laboratories of the London School of Hygiene, the presence of Gordon Fair inspired all those with whom he came in contact." He served long and contributed heavily to the peace-time and war-time activities of the United States and international agencies, notably, the League of Nations and the World Health Organization. His years of uninterrupted contributions to myriads of advi46
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From page 47...
... One of his perceptive admirers, Ed Cleary, properly noted, at the memorial exercises at Harvard University, that"he chose engineering as the fulcrum and teaching as the lever for moving the minds of men to cope with scientific and technologic change." He had an abiding faith in man's capacity to control his environmental fate with wisdom and logic. He needed no formal lesson in his own conception of engineering, that the engineer had a preeminent responsibility to society.
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From page 48...
... Mason, described him well as "preeminently a man of the age of reason, a classic rather than a romantic, a man with whom one could discuss any subject with the assurance he would come away with a balanced view." The parading environmental activists of the coming decade will sorely miss the sense of equilibrium that Gordon Fair brought to the discussions of our ever-pressing ills. Although he recognized the ills, he also emphasized repeatedly the possibilities of solutions.
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Key Terms

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  • austere exterior
  • environmental activists
  • obviously chose
  • dam offer

  • sorely miss
  • mere half
  • preventive action
  • soaring office
  • memorial exercises

  • coming decade
  • strong thread
  • recently discovered
  • deceptively austere
  • gentleness pervaded

  • simultaneously busily
  • scientific directors
  • uninterrupted contributions
  • fair inspired
  • precede action


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