The George W. Woodruff
School of Mechanical Engineering
Annual Spring Banquet
and the
1998 Distinguished Alumnus Award
Presentation
Thursday, May 21, 1998
6:00 p.m.
The Gordy Room
Wardlaw Center
Georgia Institute of Technology
| Planned and organized by the Woodruff School of
Mechanical Engineering Student Advisory Committee
(WSSAC), and sponsored by the George W. Woodruff
School of Mechanical Engineering. |
The 1998 Distinguished Alumnus
Harris Saunders, Jr.
On July 1, 1943, Harris Saunders, Jr. was called to active duty in the
Navy. He boarded a train to Atlanta and Georgia Tech to become an engineer.
He said, "I hardly knew what engineering was, and certainly didn't
know that there were many different kinds. When asked, I chose Mechanical
Engineering because I had some vague thought about the maintenance
of cars and trucks in the family rental business."
Mr. Saunders earned his bachelor's degree (BME 1945) at Georgia Tech
in the Navy V12 program. After graduation, he served in the Navy, which
included duty at Bikini Atoll for the first post-war atom bomb test.
After the stint in the Navy, he spent the next forty years building
Saunders Systems, Inc. (Birmingham, Alabama) into the third largest
truck-leasing company in the United States. The company is credited
with giving birth to the car-leasing industry in 1916 by renting Model-T
Fords for 16 cents a mile. Saunders Systems was sold to Ryder Systems
of Miami in 1986.
Upon retirement, Mr. Saunders was involved in the development of Saunders,
Inc., a company serving the trucking industry, which he sold in 1993,
and began his second retirement. Today, he might often be found on
his 80-foot trawler, Life Support, sailing to such places
as Vancouver, Guatemala, Belize, and the Coco Islands.
Mr. Saunders served on the board of SouthTrust Bank and Energen Corporation.
He was also the founding chairman of the Truck Rental and Leasing Association,
past chairman of the American Truck Historical Association, and chairman
of the United States Business and Industrial Council.
Mr. Saunders has been a generous contributor to Georgia Tech for more
than 35 years, a member of the WWII Class Reunion Committee, and was
inducted into the Georgia Tech Engineering Hall of Fame in October
1997.
About the Award
The Woodruff Distinguished Alumnus Award was inaugurated
in 1989 to recognize an outstanding alumnus of the School. Mr. Saunders'
name, along with other winners of the Woodruff Distinguished Alumnus
Award, will be on permanent display in the lobby of MRDC.
