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JACK EDWARD McKEE
1914-1979
BY EDWARD ~
T
. CLEARY
JACK EDWARD MCKEE Professor of Environmental Health Engineer-
ing at the California Institute of Technology, died October 22, 1979,
at his home in Newport Beach, California. In addition to his aca-
demic pursuits, he was a Partner in Camp, Dresser and McKee,
Inc., a Boston-based firm of sanitary engineering consultants.
Dr. McKee was distinguished as an inspired teacher, a creative
conductor of research, and an innovative practitioner in devising
engineering solutions for environmental problems. His influence,
which was international in scope, was enhanced by a generous dis-
position to share his time and talents for the advancement of profes-
sional objectives. Toward the end he was indefatigable in generating
support of colleagues and promoting recognition of their contribu-
t~ons.
If time and place of birth have a conditioning influence on the
choice of career, it becomes apparent why Jack McKee became a
specialist in matters associated with pollution of air and water
resources. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on November
9, 1914. At that period and throughout his youth, his environment
was what then was known as the Smokey City, surrounded on two
sides by rivers fouled by indiscriminate discharge of industrial wastes
and sewage from a million inhabitants of the region.
Undoubtedly his sensitivity for control of environmental degrada-
tion was reinforced during his undergraduate training at the Carne-
gie Institute of Technology, where he received a bachelor's degree in
205
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
civil engineering in 1936. For a year thereafter he found a more
agreeable environment as a flood forecaster with the Tennessee Val-
ley Authority. Scholastic aspirations then led him to Harvard Uni-
versity. There he attained his master's degree and doctorate under
the tutelage of the late Gordon M. Fair, Professor of Sanitary Engi-
neering and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
After completion of graduate studies in 1941, he married Ruth
Yeaton, by whom he had two sons and a daughter. Following a short
period of service with the U.S. Public Health Service, Dr. McKee
transferred to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and attained the
rank of Major prior to demobilization in 1946. As a Sanitary Engi-
neer Officer he participated in the Normandy campaign and was
later assigned to the civil affairs and military government in the
European theater.
Returning from war service, he joined Thomas Camp, former
Professor of Sanitary Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, and Herman Dresser in establishing a consulting firm.
All of the founding partners of Camp, Dresser and McKee are now
dead, but the organization they nurtured has grown to include some
1,400 employees engaged in the design of sanitary engineering proj-
ects throughout the world.
Within a few years an even greater personal challenge began to
assert itself to Dr. McKee. He was possessed with the notion that
teaching and research in sanitary engineering should be broadened
to embrace a more holistic approach to newly emerging environ-
mental problems. Thus, in 1949 he eagerly accepted an appoint-
ment to the faculty of the California Institute of Technology.
According to Fred Lindvall, then Chairman of the Department of
Civil Engineering, "Dr. McKee was not invited to fill a staff vacancy
but given carte Blanche to create a new program. "
Displaying missionary zeal, Dr. McKee's efforts gradually added
a new dimension to the otherwise well-established excellence of the
university. Its physical manifestation is the W. M. Keck Laboratory
of Environmental Health Engineering. Its contribution to society
has been the training of some 200 engineers, more than half of
whom attained master's and doctoral degrees and who today may be
counted among the leaders in the environmental affairs of govern-
. . . .
meet, Industry, and universities.
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JACK EDWARD McKEE
207
Additionally, Dr. McKee's research endeavors continued to offer
new insights into scientific and engineering aspects of environmental
quality management. These included the application of molecular
filter techniques for the bacterial assay of sewage, the reclamation of
wastewater by pressurized recharge of aquifers, an assessment of the
impact of nuclear power production on the quality of natural waters,
and the stabilization of wastes in space environments. This is but a
sampling of the provocative questions that were probed by Dr.
McKee and his colleagues and which have richly contributed to
advancement of environmental health management.
One of his crowning achievements was the assembly, condensa-
tion, and evaluation of all the available technical and legal literature
pertaining to water quality and its effects upon the beneficial uses of
water. Titled Water Quality Cr~tma, this compendium was completed
in 1952 for the California Water Pollution Control Board. It is
regarded as a definitive text for all those who seek to exercise judg-
ment in the administration of rational decisions for the management
of pollution control.
Widely honored for his professional accomplishments, Jack
Edward McKee was elected to the National Academy of Engineer-
ing (NAE) in 1969. In 1970 he was appointed Chairman of the
National Research Council Committee on Air Quality Management
as well as a member of the NAE Committee on Engineering Aspects
of Environmental Quality. His many public service activities
included chairmanship of the Sanitary Engineering and Occupa-
tional Health Council of the National Institutes of Health, member-
ship on the Reactor Safeguards Committee of the Atomic Energy
Commission and, more recently, on the California Council for Envi-
ronmental and Economic Balance. He was a member of twelve
scientific and professional organizations.
Dr. McKee's honors included the Clemens Herschel Award in
hydraulics from Harvard University and the Desmond Fitzgerald
Medal of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers. He also received the
Rudolf Hering Medal in sanitary engineering, the Karl Emil
Hilgard Prize, as well as the Edmund Friedman Award, all bestowed
by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
In 1960 Dr. McKee was President of the Los Angeles section of
the American Society of Civil Engineers, and in 1963-1965 he
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
served as a National Director of the society. In 1962-1963 he was
President of the Water Pollution Control Federation.
This commentary on the professional achievements of lack
McKee cannot overshadow another distinction that he highly
prized. He was the organizer, leader, and banjo virtuoso of the
Caltech Dixieland Jazz Band. This aggregation of about ten musi-
cians (said to be the most harmonious interdisciplinary group on the
faculty) favored their listeners with joie de vivre, particularly at the
annual garden party for engineers that he hosted at his home. But
probably their best-remembered performance will be that at the
memorial services for Dr. McKee. Shortly before his death he pre-
pared a written request that the band be included at the services and
that they play, among other songs, "Please Don't Talk About Me
When I'm Gone." This offers another glimpse of the personality of
Jack McKee, whose wit made him beloved by all his peers and
students.
Dr. McKee is survived by his second wife, Dorothy, and three
children, Douglas Edward, Richard C., and Katherine Alice.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
edward mckee
