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DA N I E L A. O K U N
1917–2007
Elected in 1973
“For innovative contributions to sanitary engineering
and to teaching and research.”
BY PHILIP C. SINGER
D ANIEL A. OKUN, Kenan Professor of Environmental
Engineering, University of North Carolina (UNC), Chapel Hill,
was hailed worldwide for his groundbreaking discoveries and
for the protection of pristine water sources, water-resources
management, water reclamation and reuse, watershed
protection, and technologies and institutional solutions to
water-supply and wastewater management in developing
countries.
During his long career, Dan worked in 89 countries and was
a consultant to municipal and legislative planning committees
throughout the United States. He helped design a water-
treatment plant in Bangkok, Thailand; established a graduate
program in sanitary engineering in Lima, Peru; and studied
water supply and pollution control in China for the World Bank.
At home in Chapel Hill, he led a campaign to build Cane Creek
Dam and Reservoir in the 1980s to ensure that the UNC campus
and the city of Chapel Hill would have the highest quality
drinking water.
Dan, with his wife Beth, was also an active participant in a
variety of social causes related to the rights of disenfranchised
people and communities. In the mid-1960s, they both worked
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180 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
to fight to abolish segregation and ensure racial integration in
Chapel Hill. In the early 1970s, they were outspoken critics of
the Vietnam War, and as chair of the Faculty Senate at UNC,
Dan helped maintain order during that difficult period.
In the words of Barbara K. Rimer, dean of UNC’s School of
Global Public Health, “Dan Okun cared deeply about his school,
his community, his state, and his world. And he turned that
commitment into action, whether through water projects or
social action. Few professors have influenced more students,
more professionals, or more policy decisions around the world
than Dr. Okun. His work has influenced international policy
making for organizations like the World Bank, United Nations,
and the World Health Organization. There is nowhere I go that
people don’t talk about Dan with awe,” she said. “Dan was a
model citizen/professor, and I am so glad to have known
him.”
Okun began his career at UNC in 1952; he was chair of the
Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering from
1955 to 1973. Under his leadership, the department faculty
increased from three to 25. Although he retired from teaching
in 1982, he remained actively involved in the profession for the
rest of his life through writing, lecturing, and consulting.
“Dan influenced generations of environmental engineers
and public health professionals with his clear thinking and
equal clarity of purpose,” said Michael D. Aitken, chair of the
School of Global Public Health Department of Environmental
Sciences and Engineering. “His life’s work on water supply
and, more recently, on water reuse earned him an international
reputation that few attain. His humanity equaled his professional
stature—from his concern for safe drinking water in developing
countries to his engagement in local social issues to his model
service as an academic citizen at this university.”
Okun was the first engineer from North Carolina elected to
the National Academy of Engineering and later to the Institute
of Medicine. He chaired the Water Science and Technology
Board of the National Research Council from 1991 to 1994 and
served on many committees and councils of the U.S. Public
Health Service, World Health Organization, Pan American
Health Organization, and National Academy of Sciences, among
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181
DANIEL OKUN
others. Among the many awards he received were the
Association of Environmental Engineering and Science
Professors (AEESP) Founders’ Award, the American Academy
of Environmental Engineers (AAEE) Gordon Maskew Fair
Award, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Simon
Freese Award, the Water Environment Federation (WEF)
Gordon Maskew Fair Medal, the American Water Works
Association (AWWA) Abel Wolman Award of Excellence, the
Environmental Water Resources Institute (EWRI) Lifetime
Achievement Award, and the International Water Association
(IWA) Grand Award. In August 1999, Engineering News-Record,
in honor of its 125 years of publishing, named Okun one of the
top 125 engineers who “singularly and collectively helped shape
this nation and the world.”
In June 2007, Okun celebrated his 90th birthday with a party
at the Carol Woods Retirement Center in Chapel Hill. More
than 220 people came that day to offer their warm wishes and
to celebrate the life of their friend and colleague. Just six months
later, on December 21, 2007, many of them returned to the
retirement center for a memorial service in his honor.
As Michael Aitken said, “I believe Dan’s greatest legacy will
be this Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering.
He transformed it from a traditional program in sanitary
engineering to the multidisciplinary department we are today,
at a time when this was unheard of. He was truly a man of
vision who pushed us to excel even through the last years of
his life. We will miss his wisdom; we will miss him.”
Dan was a pioneer who profoundly influenced scientific,
technical, and policy advancements in the field of environmental
sciences and engineering. An engineer’s engineer, he cast a
giant shadow on the broad field of water-supply and water-
resources management, and he will be greatly missed by the
many students, faculty, and professionals with whom he
worked at home and abroad. His legacy will surely live on
among all engineers and scientists dealing with issues of water
and health.
To commemorate his life’s work and his contributions to
engineering and water-resources management in developing
countries, the UNC chapter of Engineers Without Borders was
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182 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
r enamed the Dan Okun Chapter of Engineers Without
Borders.
His daughter wrote: “Daniel Alexander Okun was the son
of Will and Leah Okun, immigrants from Belarus; he grew up
in Brooklyn, NY. He met Beth Griffin in New Orleans when he
was in the Army and she was a social worker. The couple married
and spent more than six decades together traveling the world,
raising a family, and serving their Chapel Hill community. Dan
was beloved by his family for his wonderful sense of humor,
his firmly held beliefs, and his activism. He was an extraordinary
father and grandfather who taught well his values of honesty,
integrity, and community involvement. He is greatly missed.
Dan is survived by his brother, Milton Okun; his son, Michael
Okun; his daughter, Tema Okun; and his grandsons, Will and
Joedan Okun.
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