In Memoriam

This memorial column pays tribute to William O. Lynch, former president of AWWA. A native of Newark, New Jersey, Lynch received his bachelor's degree from the Newark College of Engineering (now the New Jersey Institute of Technology) and his master's and doctoral degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. He served as a lieutenant commander in the US Navy during World War II and the Korean War and then spent 11 years on the faculty of the school of engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he taught courses in water supply, water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, treatment of industrial wastes, and laboratory analysis of water and wastewater. In addition to serving AWWA as president, Lynch served as chair of the New York Section in 1973 and as section director from 1977 to 1980. He was honored with the section's Fuller Award in 1980. A member of AWWA since 1953, Lynch published a number of articles in JOURNAL AWWA, and received the association's Publications Award in 1962. A life and an honorary member of AWWA, he received the association's Gold Water Drop Award in 2003 for his longtime support of the association's programs and goals. In 2004, he received the association's Water Industry Hall of Fame Award, which was presented to him by Jack Hoffbuhr, AWWA's former executive director, at the annual conference.