Obituary

Sergius Paul Grace (A´03, F´21) assistant vice president of Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., New York, N. Y., died suddenly June 23, 1935. Doctor Grace was born at Farmington, Mich., on October 11, 1875. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1896 with the degree of bachelor of science in electrical engineering, and started work that year for the Detroit (Mich.) Telephone Company, making important contributions to its problem of corrosion in underground cable sheaths. Between 1898 and 1900 he was chief engineer and operating manager of the People´s Independent Telephone Company of New Orleans. After a few months as superintendent of equipment for the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company of Texas, he became equipment engineer of the Erie Bell Telephone System in 1901, and becoming general superintendent of the Beaumont Independent Telephone Company of Texas later that year. In 1902 he became chief engineer of the Interstate Independent Telephone Company of New Jersey, later that year becoming assistant engineer for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, whose headquarters were then at Boston, Mass. From 1902 to 1908, he was chief engineer of the Central District Telephone Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., and from 1908 to 1913 he was general superintendent of plant of the Central District company. During this period, when local telephone lines were being changed from open wires to aerial cables, Doctor Grace made many notable contributions to this development. In 1913 he became a consulting telephone engineer, at New York, N. Y., and the next year became chief telephone engineer for the Public Service Commission of the state of New York. From 1915 to 1920, he was assistant to the chief engineer of the New York Telephone Company and other companies of the Bell system. After a few months as assistant to the president of the Standard Chemical Company of Pittsburgh in 1920, he became advisory engineer to the general counsel of the New York Telephone Company.- In 1921 he was appointed engineer on foreign wire relations for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company; in 1922, construction engineer, New York Telephone Company; later in 1922, general superintendent of by-products, American Telephone and Telegraph Company; in 1924, commercial development engineer of the Western Electric Company; in 1925, communication development engineer of the Bell Telephone Laboratories; in 1927, general commercial engineer of the laboratories; and in 1928 assistant vice president of the laboratories, which position he held until the time of his death. Doctor Grace was well known throughout the country for his lectures and demonstrations on the telephone system and its byproducts. He was a past-president of the New York Electrical Society and of the Engineers Society of Western Pennsylvania. He was a member of the Engineers´ Club of New York. He had been honored with the degree of doctor of engineering from the University of Michigan, and that of doctor of law from Notre Dame University. Doctor Grace had served the Institute as a member of its board of examiners, and on committees on education, meetings and papers (now technical program), and communication.