Seventy Years Of The Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Page 216

of the first trustees elected to the Board after its initial organization, and for forty-five years had been one of its most interested and constructive members. During much of that period he had been chairman of the shop committee and largely responsible for the high standards of that department. He also had a keen interest in other phases of the Mechanical Engineering course, particularly the testing and hydraulics sections. His loss was keenly felt in Worcester, for his activities embraced many civic and charitable enterprises.

The final break in continuity of the original faculty came in April, 1908, when the Trustees received from John E. Sinclair the following letter: "I have recently passed my 70th birthday, and nearly completed 50 years of continuous teaching. I have for several years looked to this time as a reasonable limit to my service at the Institute. I consider it a very great honor to have held the confidence of the Board for almost forty years. I am very grateful for such confidence. Only one remains who was a member of the Board when I came to Worcester, while four present members were my pupils here or elsewhere. No member of the original faculty remains. I consider it no small privilege to have met the 1,200 graduates in my classroom. I shall greatly miss the stimulus which I have received from daily contact with the wideawake, active minds of the undergraduates. Soon no doubt, if not at once, my work will be better done by younger men.

The resignation of this beloved professor was regretfully accepted. Letters of respect and affection came to the professor emeritus from alumni in many parts of the world. He was the first Institute teacher to retire on a Carnegie annuity, provisions for which had been made in 1905, when Andrew Carnegie established a fund of $10,000,000 to provide retirement income for college professors.

Levi L. Conant was promoted to head of the Mathematics department, and Arthur D. Butterfield, '93, was called back from the University of Vermont to be assistant professor.

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Last Modified: Fri Jul 30 11:15:25 EDT 1999