INNOVATION November-December 2017

L E T T E R S

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AN UNENDINGLY INQUISITIVE MIND In August, the BC, Canadian and world geotechnical communities lost Dr. Oldrich Hungr, P.Eng./P.Geo. Oldrich obtained his B.A.Sc. and M.A.Sc. from the University of Ottawa, and his Ph.D. from the University of Alberta, all in Civil Engineering (Geotechnical). In the mid-70s he worked with the Trow Group in Toronto, and later with Thurber Engineering in Vancouver, until he joined the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of British Columbia from which he retired in 2016. Both as a consultant and an academic, Oldrich’s work was primarily related to slope stability, the assessment of hazards and risks, landslide stabilization, and the design of debris flow protective structures. He was known around the world for his consulting, research, and lecturing. His last keynote address was the prestigious Heim Lecture at the 12 th International Symposium on Landslides in Naples, Italy,

in 2016. During his career Oldrich received many other awards, and was elected both as a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada and a Fellow of Geoscientists Canada. Humble, soft-spoken, and pragmatic are some adjectives used to describe Oldrich. He was someone to be respected. Someone with a profound understanding of soil and rock mechanics, a constant desire to continue learning, and an unendingly inquisitive mind. Oldrich leaves behind his wife, Klema, his children, Pierre, Nikolai, and Clara, and two grandchildren. To extend Oldrich’s efforts, his family has started a scholarship fund through the University of British Columbia to help students who wish to follow in the same line of research: memorial.support.ubc.ca/oldrich-hungr. — Doug VanDine, P.Eng./P.Geo.; Scott McDougall, P.Eng.; Matthias Jakob, P.Geo.; and Erik Eberhardt, P.Eng. A PERSEVERING SPIRIT, GONE TOO SOON Maggie Wojtarowicz, M.A.Sc., P.Eng.,

FEC, LEED AP passed away on 15 September 2017, from cancer at the age of 44. She described herself as a poet, writer, traveller, food lover, and engineer. Her torturous struggle with dystonia, a neurological condition affecting her movements and speech, began in childhood. I admired Maggie for persevering through her engineering significant physical challenges and their persistent crush of spirit. Thankfully, dystonia left Maggie’s intellect untouched and her technical writing skills were superlative. She even expanded her horizons by volunteering with the association as Chair of DAWEG in 2004. She was determined to overcome or at least bypass her obstacles, and remarkably succeeded to normalize her speech over the last few years. Her family and friends are organizing a memorial bench in Stanley Park. I am looking forward to sitting there and thinking about this brave, strong, smart engineer; gone too soon. — Barbara Dabrowski, P.Eng., FEC West Vancouver, BC j studies (Waterloo and UBC) and subsequent job searches despite

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