UCLA Engineering: UCLA Engineer Fall 2004

In Memoriam

The UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science lost two emeriti faculty this year, Thomas A. Rogers and H. J. Orchard. Both men made significant contributions to the School, and will be greatly missed by their families, friends and colleagues.

Rogers, a member of the founding engineering faculty at UCLA, died at his home in Morro Bay on May 13, 2004 of natural causes. He was 98.

After earning his PhD in electrical engineering at UC Berkeley, Rogers worked as an instructor in electrical engineering from 1933 to 1938 before resigning to work at Shell Oil Company and Lockheed. He returned to the University of California as a supervisor in the Engineering, Science, Management War Training Program in 1944.

In 1945, Rogers joined Dean L.M.K. Boelter to build the Unified Engineering program at UCLA. He was promoted to Professor in 1950, and in 1953 was appointed as Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies.

Before his retirement in 1970, Rogers developed undergraduate, graduate and extension courses and laboratories for the emerging fields of servomechanism, analogue computers and digital controlled machine tools. He also organized innovative off-campus graduate programs that were offered in San Diego, Orange County, Los Alamos Laboratories in New Mexico and Sacramento.

He pursued his hobbies with passion, among them model railroads, oenology and computers. Rogers is dearly remembered for his sense of humor, his intelligence and generosity.

His wife of 54 years, Marcia Tikiob, preceded him in death. Rogers is survived by his two children, Peter Rogers of Hesperia and Robin Young of El Segundo, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

H. J. Orchard, an authority on filter design and network theory, died June 23, 2004 at his home in Santa Monica of respiratory failure. He was 82.

Orchard was born and educated in England. He received his B.Sc. from the University of London in 1946 and his M.Sc. from the same institution in 1951. From 1942 to 1961, he was a lecturer with the engineering department of the British Post Office, where he taught at their Central Training School in Cambridge, England. He also worked on network design problems in their London-based research laboratories.

In 1961, Orchard immigrated to the United States and became a consultant on network design to San Carlos-based GTE Lenkurt, Inc., where he was head of the Networks and Mathematics Group until joining UCLA in 1970.

He became a member of the UCLA faculty in 1970, when he joined the electrical engineering department as a full professor. Orchard retired in 1991 after a long and distinguished career of research, teaching and university service. He was particularly committed to the electrical engineering department and a significant contributor to the circuits and systems community of researchers. He also served as Vice Chair of Graduate Affairs for nearly a decade.

Orchard continued to work after his retirement from his office in the School of Engineering. In 2003, he received the Technical Achievement Award from the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society, which honors a person for his outstanding technical contributions over a period of years. The citation recognized Orchard for “a sustained record of seminal publications in the field of filter design for more than half a century that have contributed theoretical breakthroughs, new design techniques and practical advancements.”

At the time of his passing, Orchard was being considered for the UCLA Engineering Alumni Association’s Lifetime Contribution Award. The School of Engineering will bestow the award to him posthumously at the 2004 Engineering Awards Dinner on October 15.

Orchard was highly regarded among colleagues and students as an accomplished teacher. He is also remembered as a skilled administrator with high standards and a sense of fairness.

Orchard is survived by his wife Marietta, son Richard and grandson Nicholas. The family would appreciate donations to the UCLA Foundation to support the H.J. Orchard Memorial Fellowship. This fellowship will aid an electrical engineering graduate student. Donations and inquiries can be made to 6266 Boelter Hall, Box 951600, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1600, or call (310) 206-0678.