In Memoriam | C Reginald Russell

C Reginald Russell, known as ‘Reg’, the former Region 8 Director has died at 98 years of age. He was the last link to the group of volunteers that established Region 8 as a viable and thriving part of the new transnational IEEE that emerged in the 1980/1990 era.

Reg Russell was successively Treasurer, Secretary, and Chair of the IEEE United Kingdom and Ireland Section, before being elected as Region 8 Director 1973/4. He served on several high-level committees, including the IEEE Education Activities Board, influencing IEEE policy to be more outward-looking from North America.

When he was elected there were no IEEE Sections behind the ‘Iron Curtain’, although there were many IEEE members in those countries. He could see the potential for expanding the scope of Region 8 and began to work to form new Sections there, sowing the seeds for later expansion as the communist countries became more liberal societies.

Reg travelled extensively across Eastern Europe to contact IEEE members and to encourage them to become active in technical meetings and conferences and to form new Sections, such as in Slovenia. However, there was no exchange mechanism to allow the local currency to be converted into US Dollars, so he persuaded IEEE to devise a means that enabled member dues and Section operating funds to be managed locally.

His engineering career began in the microwave tube industry at GEC Wembley, England, before moving into management, marketing and sales. Later, he taught Management Studies at what is now Greenwich University in London.

Professor Charles W Turner
IEEE Life Fellow, Former UK and Ireland Section Chair