Recipient of the 2003 EASA Award

Denver J. Weigel (right) accepts the Exceptional Achievement Service Award from Michael Stewart.
 

Mr. Weigel is president of Apparatus Repair & Engineering, Inc. in Hagerstown, Maryland and has been an active member of our Association for more than 30 years.

Mr Weigel has quite a varied background. Following graduation from Freedom High School in Freedom, Pennsylvania, he joined the U.S. Navy in 1959 for a four-year tour of duty. Upon an honorable discharge in 1963, he went to work at Westinghouse Electric Company’s research and development facility near Pittsburgh, where he provided lab support for engineers who designed and produced one of the first lasers. He later moved to the Controls Division in Beaver, Pennsylvania.

Over the next 11 years, he held a variety of technical and sales positions for Westinghouse. In 1974, he accepted a position with an EASA service center in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and has remained with EASA member firms ever since.

The positions he held over next few years provided our recipient with the knowledge and experience necessary for his current job. These positions included control sales coordinator and supervisor, outside sales representative, panel design and layout specialist, and shop scheduler. He also worked as a plant manager, branch manager, sales manager, marketing manager and vice president of operations.

Mr. Weigel has an extensive education background. After his service in the military, he completed studies in Electrical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and later fulfilled studies in economics, psychology, business management, computer science and business accounting for engineers.

Most EASAns know him because of his selfless devotion and commitment to volunteer service for this Association. He has served as vice president and president of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter and as International Director for the former Region 3.

He has served as the chair of the Engineering Redesign Applications Committee since its beginning in 1996. And he was the driving force behind development of the AC Motor Verification & Redesign program and subsequent improvements.

This wonderful program is a quantum leap in redesign technology. All EASAns should be appreciative of this great gift.

Mr. Weigel is also well-known for his untiring efforts to bring quality technical education to EASAns in the Northeastern area of the U.S. Since 1985, he has been heavily involved in the behind the scenes work for a fall technical conference that started with the Mid-Atlantic, Tri-State and Quaker City Chapters. It has since grown into the Region 1 Fall Technical Conference, a terrific benefit for all eight chapters of Region 1. He has served as conference chairman, exhibit hall coordinator, registrar and treasurer, holding the latter two posts for the last 12 years.

This commitment to service is evident in the nominating letters we received.

(He) is an ambassador to the kindred spirit that binds all the members of EASA together, by freely giving of himself through his experiences, information and knowledge. He is devoted to the fundamentals upon which EASA is founded, and is a great asset to our organization.

Another nominating letter read:

Just as important as this undying dedication to our conference, perhaps his biggest contribution has been his personality! Anyone who has attended our technical conference over the past 15 years has been greeted with a heartfelt smile and a sincere handshake.