Completed Careers

Since the printing of the Spring 2011 issue of the EMC Newsletter, it saddens me to report that we lost a unique member of the EMC Society who passed away, Fred Bauer.
     I recall the chats I had with Fred over the years. He would often call me to discuss what was happening in CISPR and in our own lives. He was always interested in how I was doing in CISPR. I recall vividly one of our discussions that revolved around our mortality which he wanted to talk about. He was prepared and now my friend has made it to his “home” away from home. A true automotive standards icon has completed his career. He will be missed.
     Thank you to Kimball Williams and Poul Andersen, active members with Fred Bauer of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) electromagnetic interference (EMI) and electromagnetic radiation (EMR) standards committees, for their assistance with our tribute to Fred Bauer provided below.
     I would like to continue to solicit your support in helping me receive the names of EMC Society members that have recently passed away. You can either forward them directly to your local Chapter chair, or if you don’t know who that is, you can forward the names to me directly (d.heirman@ieee.org) or a member of the Completed Careers Committee directly, including Bruce Archambeault, Don Sweeney, and Andy Drozd. See page 3 of this Newsletter or the EMC Society website (www.emcs.org) for contact information of these committee members.
     Thank you in advance for your assistance as we honor EMC Society members who have completed their careers and made a difference in our careers.

 

 

Frederick Bauer
1920–2011

Frederick Bauer, age 90 years, peacefully passed away on August 6, 2011. He is survived by his loving wife of 63 years, Geraldine (Gerry) (nee Fahrenkopf).
     Fred graduated cum laude in 1941 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Wayne State College of Engineering, where he is honored in the Engineering Hall of Fame. As a novice engineer with Detroit Edison Company, Fred created a method of using direct-current telephone transmission line theory for the solution of heat-flow problems in long metallic power conductors. While returning to earn his Master of Science at Wayne State, Fred simultaneously began a 32-year career with the Ford Motor Company. At Ford, Fred was employed as a Quality Product Engineer, an Automotive Electrical Engineering Manager, Radio Engineering Manager, an Electrical Systems Engineer, and finally as head of the Electromagnetic Compatibility and Load Control Section.
     More than any other person in the world, Fred was responsible for the international standardization of vehicle radio frequency interference standards. He conceived major portions of the interference limit, which is utilized worldwide. Working with the International Special Committee on Radio Interference (CISPR), a major technical committee of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), he convinced European leaders to widen the protected frequency spectrum and compromise with the U.S. Fred then persuaded the Society for Automotive Engineers (SAE) to use similar concepts, and worked to modify the SAE standard, so that the European and SAE limits could become common—which it did.
     For his work toward standardization of automotive radio frequencies EMC aspects, as well as for his innovations in the technology of electromagnetic compatibility, Fred received an Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) Life Fellow Citation in 1980. Fred was a member of the IEEE EMC Society as well as various other engineering societies. He also authored many technical papers. He served as the chief U.S. delegate for CISPR Subcommittee D (Automotive EMC) which soon placed him as the recognized world head of automotive interference standardization. He served as Technical Advisor to the United States National Committee technical advisory committee of the IEC dealing with CISPR Subcommittee D matters and to the Canadian Standards Association.
     After retiring from Ford, Fred continued to participate in writing for national and international standards committees. His achievements demonstrated his understanding of the art of compromise, technical diplomacy, and tenacity of purpose.
     Besides the IEEE Life Fellowship, Fred is a Life Fellow of the Engineering Society of Detroit. The Electromagnetic Compatibility Society of the IEEE awarded Fred the Richard R. Stoddart Award for contributing to the solution of a socio-technological problem in 2001. In 2002, he was the recipient of the Finegan Standards Medal of the American National Standards Institute, which honors an individual who has shown extraordinary leadership in the actual development and application of voluntary standards.
     Fred was an avid railroad aficionado. He was the co-author of a full-length book, “The Moffat Road,” a history of Colorado mountain railroading, which won an award from the American Association of State and Local History. Fred’s collection of forty railroad drumheads (these were drum head sized advertisements placed at the rear of the passenger observation car identifying the RR name) is on display in the Frederick Bauer Drumhead Gallery at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
     Fred was a fourth generation Detroiter and a great-grandson of Bernhard Stroh, founder of the Stroh Brewery Company. He was a past president of the Dearborn Historical Commission and the Sacred Heart Parish Council. As a member of the Apostleship of the Sea for 11 years, Fred welcomed seafarers arriving in Detroit ports and offered them food, the opportunity to call home, attend Mass, or shop.
     Fred and Gerry extensively traveled the world together but also enjoyed weekends at their cottage in Caseville, Michigan. Fred was ecstatic if a freighter or train were in view. Besides his wedding day on June 26, 1948, one of Fred’s happiest days was spent as a guest engineer on the Denver & Rio Grande Western railroad, the highest standard gauge rail running south from Denver, Colorado through the Rockies. Fred’s smile, humor, and sharp wit will be remembered by all who knew him.
     For our EMC Society, Kim Williams (past president of the EMC Society) recalls that Fred was active as a speaker for their local SW Michigan EMC chapter several times before his health began to fail. His last talk for the chapter was on March 12, 2002. As his health failed, Kim would often drive Fred to Chapter events, and to the SAE EMC Standards meetings. He kept his full wits right to the end, and would often challenge other ‘experts’ on topics where he felt there was insufficient data to warrant a suspect decision--but, he always did this as a gentleman.                         EMC



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