Engineering Professor Emeritus S. Russell Stearns '37 died at the age of 82 on Nov. 28 at his home in Hanover.
Stearns joined the Dartmouth faculty in 1943 and over the course of 54 years, taught civil engineering at the Thayer School of Engineering and served as an associate dean of the College before retiring.
Engineering Professor Frances Kennedy said, "[Stearns] was the kind of person who served other people rather than promoting his own image ... everybody who knew him liked him."
Other colleagues spoke fondly of Stearns at a memorial service held on Dec. 1.
Stearns served as national president of the American Society of Engineers. In 1980, he was honored as New Hampshire's Engineer of the Year and was awarded the Thayer School's Robert Fletcher Award in 1987.
Stearns was internationally known for his work on transportation systems, structural foundations and cold weather engineering.
During the 1950s, Stearns helped design the Washington, D.C subway system, as well as the Air Force Distant Early Warning system in the Arctic. He also served as a United Nations transportation engineer consultant to Poland, Egypt and the Trans-European Motorway.
Stearns was acting chief of the Applied Snow and Ice Research branch of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, and helped found and develop the Hanover Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory.
Locally, Stearns designed the foundations for the College's Leverone Field House and Thompson Arena.
Active in the Hanover community, Stearns served as chairman of the Hanover school board, the Plainfield planning board, the Lebanon Regional Airport Authority, the New Hampshire Board of Registration and the New Hampshire Governor's Transportation Commission. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Dresden School District.
While at Dartmouth, Stearns served as the president of the Class of 1937.
Stearns is survived by his wife, his daughter, two sons and six grandchildren.
