News Room

Absent Friends

July 26, 2022

Colleagues and friends gathered today and remembered the life of Dr Alfred Alexander Guenkel, a man who left an indelible mark on technology, on the engineering community, and, perhaps most enduringly of all, on the many engineers and young technologists who he came to mentor in his 33 years as a partner at NORAM.  

Dr Guenkel received wide recognition for his role in the development of the adiabatic nitration process, a technology that would draw the world’s polyurethane producers through the doors of a then modest Vancouver engineering start-up. Well over half of global mononitrobenzene production has subsequently had its genesis at NORAM. Dr Guenkel was also the process lead in other capstone projects in sulphuric acid and wastewater, during the growth of the NORAM Group.

In paying tribute to Dr Guenkel, a recurring reference lifted from the pages of his life is to his role as mentor, one he assumed with a natural vocation as adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia, and also within the company. Dr Guenkel was someone easy to like and respect, and the NORAM family – colleagues past and present – draws alongside Alfred’s own family in expressing its sincerest condolences and paying tribute to a friend who leaves a gap impossible to fill.

A more extensive obituary can be found at: https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/vancouver-bc/dr-alfred-guenkel-10801480

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