William A. Del Mar

Biography

William A. Del Mar has been an active worker in AIEE since he joined in 1906, having served on the Board of managers, 1917-22, and as the first vice-president of the New York District, 1921-22. He has been chairman or active member of numerous committees of the Institute and other engineering organizations. For example, he holds a record for membership in the Standards Committee having been a regular member for 12 years and a liaison member for 32 years. He also holds a record for membership in the Insulation Conference of the National Research Council, having been one of the founders in 1920, and serving as vice-chairman for 17 years and acting chairman for 2 years. He was also one of the founding members of the Insulated Power Cable Engineers Association of which he has been a member since 1927 and president in 1938-39.

Mr. Del Mar was born in San Francisco, California, December 15, 1880. He received his technical education at the college now known as the City and Guilds College, which is an affiliate both of the Imperial College of Science and Technology and the University of London. There he studied electrical engineering under Ayrton and Mather, graduating in 1900 with the degree of associate of the City and Guilds Institute. In 1952, his alma mater gave him the honorary degree of Fellow of the City and Guilds Institute, the citation being "...for having contributed to the advancement of the industry in which he has been engaged either in the course of professional practice or in the form of original research."

Mr. Del Mar's early experience was with transmission and distribution for electric railroads. He was technical assistant in the electric traction department of the New York Central Railroad during the electrification of the New York area and later, assistant electrical engineer to the Interborough Rapid Transit Company of New York City, in which capacity he had the task of coordinating into one system the three separate transmission and distribution systems of the elevated surface, and subway systems.

The organization which was later to become the Habirshaw Cable and Wire Division of the Phelps Dodge Copper Products Corporation, invited Mr. Del Mar to become its chief engineer in 1917, a post he held until 1952 when he retired on a part-time basis as consulting engineer.