Obituary - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Dec. 10 to Dec. 11, 2014

QUENEAU
BERNARD RUSSELL
Age 102, formerly of Mt. Lebanon, died Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014. He was born near Liege, Belgium, of an American mother, Abbie Jean Blaisdell Queneau, and French father, Augustin Leon Jean Queneau. Dad lived in England and France before moving to Minneapolis in 1925. BRQ graduated from high school at New Rochelle, NY and then attended Columbia University where he obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees. Later he attended the University of Minnesota where he earned a Ph.D. All of his degrees were in metallurgical engineering. Dad enjoyed his peripatetic upbringing as the son of a mining engineer. He had experiences as varied as entertaining recuperating soldiers of WWI, riding his own Corsican pony in the hills of Southern France, attending a posh boys boarding school in a London suburb and living on a dairy farm in Minnesota. Many of his best memories were formed through scouting, particularly from the summer trip he took as an Eagle Scout across the Lincoln Highway in 1928. During the Depression, Dad worked for several companies and also for a time was an Assistant Professor at Columbia University. Realizing war was coming, he signed up for the Navy Reserves in 1939, was called up to active duty in June, 1941. His assignment was to the Armor and Projectile Lab in Dahlgren, VA. He was part of the team that developed safer airplane seats for pilots as well as specifying the steel used in ships' armor plate. He rose to become head of the lab and a naval Commander. Following the war, Dad began work again with the US Steel Corporation, first at South Works in Chicago, then at Duquesne Works, Pittsburgh, next at Tennessee Coal and Iron Division, Birmingham, Alabama, and finally back to the corporate offices in Pittsburgh. He most enjoyed those positions that called for him to be active in the mills and solving problems with the quality of the product. He truly loved his work in the "steel game." He wasn't done at 65, because he took a position as technical editor of Iron Age, the Iron & Steel Institute's journal. He became one of the world's experts in the field, traveling to many plants and conferences in other countries. After the age of 70, Dad took some consulting jobs, but he mainly wanted to travel. He also volunteered, driving for Meals on Wheels for over ten years, serving at St. Clair Hospital, and helping with the book sale shop at the public library every Friday until the day he was hospitalized with his final illness. On June 28, 1941, he married Henrietta C. Nye of Minneapolis, and they had three daughters. Following her death, he later married Mary Goettge, who also predeceased him. His last marriage in 2003 was to Esther McNaull Oyster. Dr. Queneau is survived by his daughters, Jean (Hugh) Davis of North Haven, CT, Marguerite Marsh of Tacoma, WA, and Anne Queneau of Washington, DC; stepdaughters, Jean Oyster Franke and Jan Oyster Hunnicott; six grandchildren, Abigail Anne Marsh (Jeremy Joseph), Washington, DC, Kirtland Craig (Carolyn) Marsh, Washington, DC, Mark Russell (Kiowa) Biddle, Pt. Reyes, CA, Kathleen Biddle of Essex, CT; step- grandchildren, Andrew (Carolina Mejio) Davis, Chapel Hill, NC, and Jen Davis, NYC; nine great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Marguerite Queneau Scholarship Fund at the University of Minnesota (c/o of Dean John R. Finnegan, School of Public Health, 420 Delaware St. S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455-0381); or the Bernard R. Queneau Endowed Fellowship Fund, Dept. of Earth & Environmental Engineering, Columbia University, 622 W. 113th St., Mail Code 4518, NYC, NY 10025. Funeral Services will be Friday, December 12, 2014, 11 a.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2040 Washington Road, Pittsburgh, PA. Relatives and friends may greet the family members after the service. There will be no calling hours. Interment will be in Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, MN.