The MIT community will honor the life and legacy of former MIT Corporation Chairman Alexander Vladimir d'Arbeloff '49 during a remembrance gathering at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 17 in Kresge Auditorium.
D'Arbeloff, a visionary entrepreneur who co-founded Boston-based high-tech company Teradyne, died on July 8 at age 80.
As the eighth chairman of the MIT Corporation, d'Arbeloff provided crucial leadership during the Calculated Risks, Creative Revolutions fundraising campaign, which had a transformative effect on the Institute -- from the physical campus to its research agenda. The campaign ushered in cutting-edge facilities such as the Al and Barrie Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center and the Ray and Maria Stata Center and also sparked a new emphasis on the intersection between the life sciences and engineering at MIT.
With his wife, Brit SM '61, d'Arbeloff created the Fund for Excellence in MIT Education to support teaching innovations in science and engineering. The pair also supported a professorship in the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering and established the d'Arbeloff Lab in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
In 1960, d'Arbeloff co-founded Teradyne Inc. with Nick DeWolf -- a former MIT classmate whom he had met when they had to line up alphabetically during an ROTC class. During his tenure as president and CEO of Teradyne, which manufactures automatic test equipment and interconnection systems for the electronics and telecommunications industries, the company's annual sales rose from $13 million to more than $1 billion.
In 1997, he was named chairman of the MIT Corporation, having served as a member since 1989. At the time, he said he was aware of the differences between academia and the business world but preferred to focus on the common ground they shared.
Memorial gifts may be made to the d'Arbeloff Fund for Excellence in Education. Checks to MIT can be mailed to the MIT Office of Memorial Gifts, 600 Memorial Drive, W98-500, Cambridge MA 02139-4307. Questions may be directed to Bonny Kellermann at bonnyk@mit.edu; 617-253-9722.
To read more about Alex d'Arbeloff's life, please see earlier obituary.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on September 10, 2008 (download PDF).
