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Alum gives gift of scholarship

When Henry Kassel, BSAeroE’43, graduated from Iowa State, Wilbur Nelson was chair of the newly formed aeronautical engineering department and the old ME Building housed a “pretty primitive old wind tunnel.”

Kassel, now of Seattle, Washington, was one of the earliest graduates in AeroE after it split from the ME department. Yet even following retirement in 1985 from his 38-and-a-half-year career as a Boeing engineer, Kassel has not forgotten his alma mater. His generous gift of more than $167,000 will fund scholarships for engineering students for many years to come. Kassel’s scholarship will go to a sophomore or junior in engineering with preference given to AEEM majors.

After graduating in 1943, Kassel, who also holds an M.S. in ME from the University of Washington, worked for Douglas Aircraft before joining the Navy. Following the service, he began his long and successful career at Boeing. When Kassel retired, he was working in a preliminary design capacity on advanced versions of Boeing’s 747 and 767 series aircraft—a long way from that old wind tunnel in Ames.