The School of Engineering mourns the passing of its dedicated founding faculty member,
Professor Emeritus Charles M. Fogel.

The School of Engineering mourns the passing of its dedicated founding faculty member, Professor Emeritus Charles M. Fogel.

Born in Syracuse, Mr. Fogel was raised in Buffalo after the age of three, and he received most of his education here. An alumnus of the University at Buffalo with BA and MA degrees in Physics, he went on to fulfill a distinguished and productive career as a member of the UB faculty. Fogel touched a large percentage of engineering students in the School’s early years as he instructed introduction to engineering courses, and he is well-remembered for teaching the use of the slide rule with an oversized model that now hangs in the School’s Office of Undergraduate Advising. He was an early board member of the Buffalo-area Engineering Awareness for Minorities program that the School was a principal in founding. School administrative posts he held included: the first assistant dean and director of its Industrial Liaison Office.

In addition to his service to the School, Fogel’s university service included positions as assistant to the president, assistant executive vice president, acting dean of the graduate school, and director of the Division of General and Technical Studies.

He published Introduction to Engineering Computations (International Textbook Co., 1960), and with Robert L. Ketter, published research on “Elastic Strength of Tapered Columns,” for the Structural Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers (1963). He also compiled Engineering the Future from the Ground Up: 1946 –1996: A History of the First Fifty Years of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University at Buffalo–and a Glimpse of the Future (ed., Anne B. McGrail, UB School of Engineering & Applied Sciences Office of the Dean).

Fogel’s extensive School and UB service was recognized with numerous awards, including the highest awards given by the University at Buffalo (President’s Medal), the UB Alumni Association (Samuel P. Capen Award and Distinguished Alumni Award), the School of Engineering (Dean’s Award for Achievement), and the UB Engineering Alumni Association (Engineer of the Year).

Mr. Fogel was an active community participant. He was a Rotary Club of Buffalo member and he served that organization in many local, regional, and international leadership roles. His other community service included roles as a trustee, member, or officer of organizations including Community Welfare Council of Buffalo and Erie County, Greater Niagara Boy Scout Council, Network in Aging of Western NY, Temple Beth Zion, United Jewish Federation and Jewish Family Services of Erie County. He mentored students at the Lorraine Academy and tutored in Buffalo high schools, and he remained active as a volunteer well into his 90s.

A devoted father and husband, Charles Fogel is survived by his wife of 63 years, Bernice, and their three sons: Paul, Lorin, and Howard.

To learn more about Charles M. Fogel’s commitment to education and his contributions to the School of Engineering, please see the abbreviated CV that we have compiled.

Please join us in commemorating Mr. Fogel. We invite you to share your recollections at a memorial page in his honor.

Also, the School is accepting gifts for a new Professor Emeritus Charles M. Fogel Memorial Scholarship Fund. Contributions to the fund can be made online or by mailing a check payable to the “University at Buffalo Foundation”, to: Please indicate “Fogel Memorial Scholarship Fund” in the note field.