Dr. Anthony N. Michel

Dr. Anthony N. Michel died on Feb 1, 2020 at the age of 84 at his home in South Bend, Indiana. Known as Tony to his family and friends, he was born on November 17, 1935 in Rekash, Romania, the only child of Katherine and Anton Michl. He grew up in Romania as a member of the Banat Swabian ethnic minority. In 1947, he and his mother made their way to Austria where they lived in a displaced persons camp for 5 years and later emigrated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1952.
Tony met his wife Leone while he was in college at Marquette University. They were married in 1957. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Marquette University in 1958, Tony spent seven years in the aerospace industry. In 1964, he received a master’s degree in mathematics and in 1968 a PhD in electrical engineering from Marquette. In 1973 he received a Doctor of Science degree in applied mathematics from the Technical University of Graz, Austria.
Prior to becoming a member of the faculty of the University of Notre Dame, Tony served for sixteen years as a professor of electrical engineering at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. In 1984 he joined the faculty at Notre Dame as Chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering, and from 1988 to 1998 served as Dean of the College of Engineering at Notre Dame. He held visiting professorships at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, the Vienna University of Technology, Austria, and the Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Austria.
His publications include twelve textbooks and monographs in the areas of electrical engineering and applied mathematics. He is a life fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and is an American engineering educator.
Tony was elected a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, was named Frank M. Freimann Chaired Professor of Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, and appointed Matthew H. McCloskey Dean of Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. He was appointed editor-in-chief of the IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, served as the president of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society in 1989, and was elected a Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Engineering in 1992.
Tony became a Fulbright scholar in Austria in 1992 and was awarded Germany’s Alexander von Humboldt Research Award in 1998. In addition, he received numerous IEEE Awards and Medals, and was inducted into the Iowa State University Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering’s first Hall of Fame in 2019.
After he retired in 2003, Tony pursued a personal passion, researching and writing a detailed history of his family and the Banat Swabian people as they moved westward from postwar Eastern Europe.
Family and friends will always remember Tony’s unique sense of humor, his quick-witted stories, and the folksy expressions he often shared from the “old country”. He will also be remembered for his passion for traveling the world with Leone and for the pleasure he took spending time with his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, all who will miss him deeply.
Tony is survived by his wife of 62 years, Leone; five children, Mary Reed (Gene), Katherine Jorgensen (Chris), John Michel (Leslie), Anthony, and Patrick; six grandchildren, Julie, Lisa, Katherine, C.J., Leo, and Kate; and four great-grandchildren, Leo, Oscar, Philip, and Alice.
A viewing will be held on Friday, February 14, from 2-3pm at McGann Hay, University Chapel, 2313 E. Edison Rd., South Bend, Indiana, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 3:30pm at Basilica of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 1010 Basilica Drive, Notre Dame. A reception will be held immediately following the mass at the Morris Inn, 1399 N. Notre Dame Ave, South Bend.
Memorial contributions can be made to an honored charity of your choosing.