7/10/2012 Meredith Staub
Written by Meredith Staub
Eugene Neigoff (B.S. Mechanical Engineering ’65) recalls the great snow storm of 1963 like it was yesterday. Of course, it is probably difficult to forget snow drifting 10 feet or more up the side of a dormitory.
“We were jumping out the windows on trays and skiing down it—you remember those times,” he said. “You remember the things you did that were both adventurous and foolish!”
Fond memories of his time at Illinois represent one of the reasons Mr. Neigoff and his wife, Judith, recently decided to give a major gift to the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering. Their generous bequest will support endowed faculty positions, promote academic excellence, and increase educational opportunities for students, especially those with financial need.
“I carried a pretty good load here and I was very happy with the quality of what I got,” he said. “That’s the key statement. The quality of the training put me in good stead.”
Mr. Neigoff believes hands-on experience during an engineer’s college career is vital to ultimate success after graduation. This design training was prevalent during his time at Illinois, and during a recent visit back to campus, he was pleased to see the design stem within the current undergraduate curriculum.
“They’ve got to be ready to produce from Day 1 that they get out of school. You’ve got to start producing as a member of a team and as a member of a defined group of people,” Mr. Neigoff said. “In talking with [MechSE Department Head] Placid [Ferreira], he has the same belief as I do. We’ve got to work on developing the skill set brought to industry, because we don’t have the time to retrain an engineer to the real world.”
After leaving Illinois with his degree, Mr. Neigoff spent more than four years in the military, serving in the Vietnam War.
“Actually I thought about being a career officer but then realized I would not fit the mold—I would break the mold,” Mr. Neigoff said, noting that he served as a bomb disposal officer in Vietnam. “My military specialty was stopping things from blowing up. My heart goes out to those boys in Iraq and Afghanistan—there is a case where sophistication has gone deadly.”
Once his tour was over, the Chicago native returned home to begin a long engineering career at several different Chicagoland companies, including Motorola and Atlas Electrical Devices. He also served as the vice president for General Manufacturing Corp. and chief operating officer for Hommer Tool & Manufacturing. He earned an M.B.A. degree at Loyola University in Chicago along the way. After retiring at 55, he continued doing consulting work. He and Judith now live in Surprise, Arizona.
The Neigoffs do not have children. When they began to discuss where their estate would go, Mr. Neigoff’s idea was to leave it to the school that had given him such a good foundation for his career.
“I am happy to see what is going on now, especially after talking with Placid,” Mr. Neigoff said. “It was interesting to see that we are in so much agreement as to where the engineering program has to go to keep the school’s reputation for quality engineers that are coming out of school, and I would certainly challenge any of my peers to consider supporting the University with an appropriate bequest to ensure these high-quality programs continue in the MechSE Department.”