Obituary

Charles Donald Gates, professor emeritus of environmental engineering, died July 6 in Williamsburg, Va. He was 89.

Gates, whose special field of research was water quality phenomena, received a presidential citation in 1971 for his "efforts to combat water pollution on Cayuga Lake." He was commended for giving of his time and talent as a member and vice chairman of the Cayuga Lake Basin Planning and Management Board. As a board member, the citation said, Gates had "guided the planning for the future development of Cayuga Lake."

A native of Ashburnham, Mass., he was born Nov. 22, 1914. After earning a baccalaureate degree at Williams College and a master of science degree at Harvard University, he worked as a civil engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in New Hampshire until he entered the U.S. Army in January 1942.

Gates spent four years on active duty at the Army Chemical Center in Maryland, where he did research and development work in the detection and removal of toxic agents from water. He returned to civilian engineering activities as the head of the Distillation Test Section of the Engineer Research and Development Laboratories in Norfolk, Va., where he carried out desalination studies.

He came to Cornell in 1947 as an assistant professor of sanitary engineering and was promoted to professor of environmental engineering in 1959. He served as head of sanitary engineering from 1957 to 1966, chairman of water resources engineering from 1967 to 1972 and chairman of environmental engineering from 1972 to 1974. He directed the Center for Environmental Research from 1976 to 1977 and retired in 1980.

Gates was active in Ithaca community water and wastewater planning and management as a member of the Tompkins County Water Supply Committee and as chairman of the Greater Ithaca Sewerage Study Committee. He worked or consulted with the New York State Department of Health, the United States Public Health Service, the Federal Water Quality Administration and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

In addition to his academic interests, Gates was known for his love of his family and his magnificent gardens at his family's home on Texas Lane. Although they left Ithaca for Virginia in 1980, Gates and his wife, Shirley, maintained an active interest in Cornell and Ithaca and visited many times.

Gates is survived by his wife, Shirley; three daughters, Nancy Gates, Karen Konefal '74 and Betsy Dahlke '81; and five grandchildren.