The 125-year-old administration building is going to be named Armand V and Donald S. Feigenbaum Hall.
President Roger H. Hull announced that the formal dedication of the building will take place Oct. 25 during Homecoming Weekend.
“We are very pleased to place the Feigenbaum names on this building to recognize not only their outstanding professional achievements but also their support and generosity to Union,” the president said. “Their recent major gift provides continued momentum to our $150 million capital campaign, which is now nearing completion.
“The Feigenbaum name is known worldwide and is synonymous with quality management. It is appropriate that the building that houses Union's administration will now bear their name, which will forever be tied to the College. I couldn't be more delighted.”
The Feigenbaum brothers, of Pittsfield, Mass., both received undergraduate degrees at Union, Donald in 1946 (celebrating his 50th reunion this year) and Armand in 1942.
Armand Feigenbaum was worldwide manager of manufacturing operations and quality control for General Electric and Donald Feigenbaum was a top manager in GE's jet engine business when they founded General Systems Co. thirty years ago. The Pittsfield-based international engineering firm designs and implements integrated management systems for major corporations throughout the world; in a recent article, Business Week said about the Feigenbaums that “Management isn't an art to them; it's a science.”
Armand Feigenbaum, president and chief executive officer
of General Systems Co., is the originator of Total Quality Control, and his 1951 book on the subject has been published in more than a score of languages and is widely used throughout the world as a foundation for quality control practice. He has received an honorary doctorate from Union and was awarded the College's Founders Medal for his “distinguished career in management and engineering.”
Donald Feigenbaum, chief operating officer and executive vice president of General Systems Co., is one of the acknowledged world leaders in systems management and systems engineering. He was one of Union's youngest graduates to be elected to Tau Beta Pi, the national
engineering honorary, after his entrance into engineering practice, for his outstanding technology contributions. He was for eight years founding chairman of the systems engineering committee of the American Society for Quality Control.
The administration building was constructed in 1871 as a residence for President Eliphalet Nott Potter. When Potter left the College in 1884, the building became a home for two faculty families. After a fire, the structure was remodeled in 1919 to become the administration building; up to that time, administrative offices had been scattered across campus.