When the late Alfred Guenkel, PhD’73, emigrated from Germany to Canada to attend McGill University, he arrived “with a suitcase, $300, and his scholarship.”
That scholarship – specifically, the J.W. McConnell Memorial Fellowship – “changed his life,” says his widow, Shizuko Guenkel. “He was so grateful for that scholarship. He mentioned it all the time, and it opened his future.”
Alfred Guenkel was the first person in his family to go to university, earning undergraduate and master’s degrees in his hometown of Aachen in western Germany. He would go on to an extraordinary career after earning his PhD in chemical engineering at McGill, working in Canada, Europe, and the Middle East. “McGill was the foundation of his successful career.”
A chemical pioneer
Guenkel acquired his first job before even completing his studies at McGill, working for Procter & Gamble in Belgium. Eager to return to Canada, he later took on positions at Canadian Industries Limited (CIL) in Montreal and Chemetics in Vancouver, then taught at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia for six years.
His time at CIL was formative. Hired to develop a more efficient process of producing mononitrobenzene (MNB), Guenkel came up with a method that virtually eliminated the energy necessary for its production, inventing numerous patented processes.
“I lucked out with CIL,” he told McGill’s Faculty of Engineering in 2019. “It was the biggest Canadian chemical company at the time, and they did some wonderful work. Creating the MNB process was really the foundation of my good fortune. I grabbed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and made it happen.”
Guenkel would settle permanently in Vancouver, serving as an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia and becoming a partner at NORAM Engineering & Constructors Ltd., where he was the principal chemical engineer for thirty years. Thanks to his pioneering research the company is a global industry leader in the production of MNB, with over half of the world’s annual output produced in plants designed by NORAM.
His achievements led to recognition multiple times in his field. He would go on to be inducted into the Canadian Academy of Engineering, be awarded the Dean’s Medal of Distinction from UBC, and earn the Meritorious Achievement Award from the Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia.
A lifetime of loyalty
Alfred and Shizuko met during his studies at McGill, eventually marrying in Birks Chapel on campus with his graduate students in attendance. Even after settling on the West Coast, “Alfred looked back on McGill with tremendous gratitude, and talked often about his time there.” He attended McGill alumni events in Vancouver, kept in touch with his classmates and PhD advisor, and started giving to the University shortly after completing his doctorate.
“The opportunities he received from McGill were the inspiration for his philanthropy,” says Shizuko. “Education and learning were core values to Alfred, and I’m not surprised he continued to give.” He was a loyal donor for many years, culminating in his own named scholarship, the Alfred Guenkel Fellowship in Engineering, which was eventually awarded to nine PhD students.
Alfred also discussed his desire to leave a gift to McGill upon his passing. “He talked about this with the family often – he never forgot his gratitude to McGill.”
Upon his passing in 2022, Alfred’s family made an extraordinary $1-million gift in his honour to establish the Alfred Guenkel International Fellowship in Engineering. The fellowship is endowed and will continue in perpetuity; it will be awarded to its first recipient later this year.
“We are very proud of Alfred, his accomplishments, and how he lived his life,” says Shizuko. “We thought that establishing the same type of fellowship that Alfred received as a young man would resonate with him, coming full circle from where he started. We hope his fellowship will provide life-changing opportunities for other young engineers in the years to come.”
This exceptional gift will help generations of outstanding students, as well as honour Alfred’s wishes and immortalize his legacy. “He was naturally a very humble and kind person, and this scholarship is very much him.”