Vincent Boudreau
Dear Members of the City College Community,
It is my sad duty to relate the news that Professor Jamaal Manassah passed away recently. Professor Manassah was a City College institution, renowned for his research in Electrical Engineering, theoretical physics and photonics and for his leadership and standing in Electrical Engineering and in the Grove School. We will also remember him for his persistent and impassioned defense of faculty governance, both during his years of service as the President of the Faculty Senate, and in the time since.
Professor Manassah completed his fortieth year of service to the college this past May, and he left an untold number of students indebted to him for his careful and demanding instruction. Over the years, as president, I’ve lost count of how many engineering graduates remarked particularly on how deeply his teaching and guidance impressed itself upon them. He had a reverence for our college, for its mission and design and was to the end concerned that we educate our students in the highest standards of the discipline. In Faculty Senate, he was an exacting critic of anything he felt fell short of those standards, and we are a better institution, by far, for his efforts and his passion.
In accordance with his family’s wishes, funeral arrangements were made privately a few weeks ago. They intend, however, to work with the college on a memorial service in the near future. We’ll certainly share the details of that service as they develop.
I am deeply sorry for the loss of Jamaal. CCNY was a better place when he worked alongside us, and we’ll miss him terribly.
Sincerely,
Vince Boudreau
President