IEEE Life Fellow Theodore W. “Ted” Hissey was a vibrant and active volunteer whose involvement spanned more than six decades and his impact was felt across the breadth and depth of the IEEE community. After 97 productive years, we say goodbye to Ted, who passed away on 14 October 2023.
Ted’s volunteer work began in the 1940’s when he chaired the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) student chapter of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, a predecessor organization to the IEEE. Across his 60+ years of service, his role at IEEE grew, culminating with his being named an IEEE Director Emeritus in 1997 and IEEE Foundation Director Emeritus in 2005 in recognition of his dedication and outstanding service.
Ted was often heard crediting IEEE for paving the road for his work life, which began after he graduated from Penn State in 1948 and joined Leeds and Northrup (L&N) in Philadelphia as an applications engineer. While at L&N, he served on a number of technical and standards committees and helped establish IEEE conferences, making many friends along the way. These connections helped Ted and L&N take on several international projects, such as setting up telemetry systems for Aramco, a national oil and natural gas company in Saudi Arabia. He also spent time in Brazil helping engineers expand and stabilize the power grid. Later, he was a principal engineer at Macro Corp., an engineering consultancy firm based in Horsham, Pa.
Throughout his career, Ted’s passions were his family, outreach to students and mentoring IEEE volunteers and young professionals. To honor his commitment, the IEEE Theodore W. Hissey Outstanding Young Professional Award was established in 2017 in recognition of his tremendous support of the IEEE Young Professional Community.
Known to many in the IEEE community as ‘Uncle Ted', he will be remembered as a kind soul who selflessly gave of himself to serve the IEEE global community to advance technology for the benefit of humanity.
To help honor his legacy, Ted’s family and the IEEE Foundation have set up this donation page. Donations will be directed to the IEEE Theodore (Ted) W. Hissey Outstanding Young Professional Award Fund, which supports the annual presentation of this distinguished Award to a young professional for contributions to the technical community and IEEE fields of interest.
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The IEEE Foundation will notify the Hissey Family about your gift, but not the amount. The giving form below includes a space for you to share a brief condolence message, which will also be shared with the family. If you have questions or wish to hold a personal consultation regarding the Fund or ways to contribute, please call +1 732-562-3860 or email donate@ieee.org.
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