Harold L. Gegel (Hal) was born in St. Louis, MO on January 30,1933, the son of Harold B. Gegel and Irene Bollmeier Gegel. He grew up in the small town of Marissa, Illinois amongst a large extended family. There he graduated from Marissa Township High School in 1950. He graduated from the University of Illinois Metallurgical Engineering class in 1955 and went to work in Dayton, Ohio at General Motors, the Frigidaire Division as a metallurgical engineer. He served in the Air Force from 1956 to 1959 as an Air Force officer and a metallurgist in the Air Force Materials Laboratory (AFRL). He achieved the rank of Captain and then entered the Air Force Reserve, where he stayed as a Captain until 1972. It was during this time he met Sonja Okeson, the love of his life and married her in July of 1957. After active military duty he went to work as a civilian at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Working first as a Materials Engineer in the Applications Division of AFRL, then as a Metallurgist, Advanced Metallurgical Studies Branch, Metals and Ceramcs Division, AFRL. He became a Senior Scientist and was a national leader in efforts to modernize the forging and casting industries in the 1970’s and 1980’s. He led efforts to apply computer technology to process design, using finite element methods and material databases required for building computational models for both forging and casting processes. He received his doctorate degree from The Ohio State University in 1965. He retired from Wright Patterson in 1988 and went to work for UES where he stayed until 1998. He received a Distinguished Life Member award from the American Society of Metals in 2004. Throughout his retirement he was a volunteer naturalist for Five Rivers Metro Parks and stayed active with David’s Church for many years. His positive outlook and strength are an inspiration to us all. He will be greatly missed.