From Charlou Dolan:
Quad-City Times (Davenport, Iowa), Wednesday, 13 Sep 1972:
A man who grew from a teen-age tinkerer to president of a company with markets around the world, Gifford M. Mast, founder of Mast Development Co., Davenport, died today in Mercy Hospital after a three-month illness. He was 58. Mr. Mast, 219 E. Kimberly Road, Davenport, organized in 1944 the company which today manufactures learning systems, photo-optical devices, and air-monitoring equipment. A division of Mast Development in Meadville, Pa., the Keystone View Co., makes optometric equipment.
Memorial services for Mr. Mast will be 3 p.m. Friday in St. John's United Methodist Church, Davenport. Burial will be in Davenport Memorial Park. Visitation begins at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Hill & Fredericks Mortuary, Davenport. Memorials may be made to the Scott County Community Health Center or to the Rotary Scholarship Loan Fund. Mast Development Co. will be closed Friday in his honor.
While still in his teens, Mr. Mast helped his parents with nursery exhibits at the Mississippi Valley Fair, but his greatest personal contribution to the exposition was a mechanical man he created for the Quality Milk Assn. The body was made of milk cans and plumbing fixtures, and it operated by automatic phonograph. "I combined coat hangers with an old turntable to make it repeat a spiel every so often," Mr. Mast once recalled about his early invention.
He was also active in the Science Club at Davenport High School, and once said he learned almost as much in the club as in subject matter courses.
Mr. Mast attended the University of Chicago, where he graduated with a bachelor of science degree in physics and a Phi Beta Kappa key in 1935. He obtained a master of science degree in engineering science from Harvard university in 1939.
He began his career in research and development with Thomas Edison's youngest son, Theodore, in New Jersey. While still a graduate student at Harvard, Mr. Mast worked at the 1939 New York World's Fair as a science designer with the famous industrial designer, Walter Darwin Teague, who was responsible for eight major buildings.
Mr. Mast first opened a consulting business in Davenport in 1939, but World War II caused an interruption while he headed a team at the Jam Handy Organization in Detroit, Mich., designing aerial gunnery equipment and associated training devices.
On his return to Davenport in December 1944, he rented an old grocery store building and once again opened his consulting business with two associates who had worked with him during the war.
Mr. Mast had also previously done industrial design work with General Design Corp., Chicago, and worked with Henry Dreyfus on design of the John Deere farm equipment, an don products for the Hotpoint Division of General Electric.
He was at one time a physics teacher at St. Ambrose College, Davenport. He was recently appointed chairman of the Augustana College Research Committee.
In his leisure hours Mr. Mast devoted much of his energy to work in mental health organizations. He was elected president of the Scott County Association for Mental Health in 1955, and the Scott Mental Health Center in 1957. He also served on the education committee of the National Association for Mental Health and was one of two Iowa members on the board of the National Association for Mental Health. In 1966 Mr. Mast was appointed to head a committee to develop a comprehensive, coordinated mental health program for Scott County. He was a member of the board of directors of the Iowa Mental Health Assn.
He was also active in the YMCA and served as a member of the leadership gifts committee named in 1970 to raise money for the expansion of the program of the Greater Scott County YM-YWCA. He was chairman of the Davenport YMCA membership drive during the 1950s.
In 1965 Mr. Mast was the only Quad-City member of the 104-member foreign trade commission from Iowa, who spent 20 days in Europe developing trade for the state. The group spent half an hour talking with President Lyndon B. Johnson before leaving on their trip abroad.
A number of patents have been issued to Mr. Mast, and he has written a number of articles published in technical journals. He was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, the American Society of Industrial Designers, and the National Society for Programmed Instruction. He is listed in the World's Who's Who in Commerce and Industry. He was an active member of the Rotary Club.
Mr. Mast was born in Davenport. He married Beth Baker in 1944 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. He is survived by his wife; sons, Gifford M. Jr., Meadville, Pa.; Terrill, Lexington, Ky.; Eric, Akron, Ohio; and Roderick, at home; a daughter, Sara Mast, at home; and four grandchildren, including one born today to his son Gifford.
Quad-City Times (Davenport, Iowa), Friday, 15 Sep 1972:
Gifford M. Mast
During his lifetime Gifford M. Mast, founder of the Mast Development Co., was granted many patents for his developments and inventions. He made his greatest contribution, however, in an area in which he held no patent, the advancement and welfare of his fellow man.
The world will remember him for his learning systems, his photo-optical devices and air-monitoring equipment. His community remembers Mr. Mast for his devotion to a host of civic causes, whether it was a drive for mental health organizations, the YMCA, or the Rotary Club.
Mr. Mast was Davenport's "The Man Who Wanted To Know Why." His forte was the quick mathematics of the slide rule, the finality of formulae. But added to this was a generous dash of the chemistry that turns curiosity into a virtue.
Along with science, his passion was education--not only the education for himself--but new vistas of educaiton for the young. He viewed no question as stupid. "It's often the question which appears stupid which is really the most searching," he said.
Mr. Mast died at 58, but he lived to see much of the rigidity go out of the pursuit of science. Curricula and course material that chafed him during his own school days are broadening. Science fairs and clubs, which he boosted, are becoming more and more important.
Answers to problems will be coming in for a long time, all because Gifford M. Mast "wanted to know why."
Quad-City Times (Davenport, Iowa), Wednesday, 13 Sep 1972:
A man who grew from a teen-age tinkerer to president of a company with markets around the world, Gifford M. Mast, founder of Mast Development Co., Davenport, died today in Mercy Hospital after a three-month illness. He was 58. Mr. Mast, 219 E. Kimberly Road, Davenport, organized in 1944 the company which today manufactures learning systems, photo-optical devices, and air-monitoring equipment. A division of Mast Development in Meadville, Pa., the Keystone View Co., makes optometric equipment.
Memorial services for Mr. Mast will be 3 p.m. Friday in St. John's United Methodist Church, Davenport. Burial will be in Davenport Memorial Park. Visitation begins at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Hill & Fredericks Mortuary, Davenport. Memorials may be made to the Scott County Community Health Center or to the Rotary Scholarship Loan Fund. Mast Development Co. will be closed Friday in his honor.
While still in his teens, Mr. Mast helped his parents with nursery exhibits at the Mississippi Valley Fair, but his greatest personal contribution to the exposition was a mechanical man he created for the Quality Milk Assn. The body was made of milk cans and plumbing fixtures, and it operated by automatic phonograph. "I combined coat hangers with an old turntable to make it repeat a spiel every so often," Mr. Mast once recalled about his early invention.
He was also active in the Science Club at Davenport High School, and once said he learned almost as much in the club as in subject matter courses.
Mr. Mast attended the University of Chicago, where he graduated with a bachelor of science degree in physics and a Phi Beta Kappa key in 1935. He obtained a master of science degree in engineering science from Harvard university in 1939.
He began his career in research and development with Thomas Edison's youngest son, Theodore, in New Jersey. While still a graduate student at Harvard, Mr. Mast worked at the 1939 New York World's Fair as a science designer with the famous industrial designer, Walter Darwin Teague, who was responsible for eight major buildings.
Mr. Mast first opened a consulting business in Davenport in 1939, but World War II caused an interruption while he headed a team at the Jam Handy Organization in Detroit, Mich., designing aerial gunnery equipment and associated training devices.
On his return to Davenport in December 1944, he rented an old grocery store building and once again opened his consulting business with two associates who had worked with him during the war.
Mr. Mast had also previously done industrial design work with General Design Corp., Chicago, and worked with Henry Dreyfus on design of the John Deere farm equipment, an don products for the Hotpoint Division of General Electric.
He was at one time a physics teacher at St. Ambrose College, Davenport. He was recently appointed chairman of the Augustana College Research Committee.
In his leisure hours Mr. Mast devoted much of his energy to work in mental health organizations. He was elected president of the Scott County Association for Mental Health in 1955, and the Scott Mental Health Center in 1957. He also served on the education committee of the National Association for Mental Health and was one of two Iowa members on the board of the National Association for Mental Health. In 1966 Mr. Mast was appointed to head a committee to develop a comprehensive, coordinated mental health program for Scott County. He was a member of the board of directors of the Iowa Mental Health Assn.
He was also active in the YMCA and served as a member of the leadership gifts committee named in 1970 to raise money for the expansion of the program of the Greater Scott County YM-YWCA. He was chairman of the Davenport YMCA membership drive during the 1950s.
In 1965 Mr. Mast was the only Quad-City member of the 104-member foreign trade commission from Iowa, who spent 20 days in Europe developing trade for the state. The group spent half an hour talking with President Lyndon B. Johnson before leaving on their trip abroad.
A number of patents have been issued to Mr. Mast, and he has written a number of articles published in technical journals. He was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, the American Society of Industrial Designers, and the National Society for Programmed Instruction. He is listed in the World's Who's Who in Commerce and Industry. He was an active member of the Rotary Club.
Mr. Mast was born in Davenport. He married Beth Baker in 1944 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. He is survived by his wife; sons, Gifford M. Jr., Meadville, Pa.; Terrill, Lexington, Ky.; Eric, Akron, Ohio; and Roderick, at home; a daughter, Sara Mast, at home; and four grandchildren, including one born today to his son Gifford.
Quad-City Times (Davenport, Iowa), Friday, 15 Sep 1972:
Gifford M. Mast
During his lifetime Gifford M. Mast, founder of the Mast Development Co., was granted many patents for his developments and inventions. He made his greatest contribution, however, in an area in which he held no patent, the advancement and welfare of his fellow man.
The world will remember him for his learning systems, his photo-optical devices and air-monitoring equipment. His community remembers Mr. Mast for his devotion to a host of civic causes, whether it was a drive for mental health organizations, the YMCA, or the Rotary Club.
Mr. Mast was Davenport's "The Man Who Wanted To Know Why." His forte was the quick mathematics of the slide rule, the finality of formulae. But added to this was a generous dash of the chemistry that turns curiosity into a virtue.
Along with science, his passion was education--not only the education for himself--but new vistas of educaiton for the young. He viewed no question as stupid. "It's often the question which appears stupid which is really the most searching," he said.
Mr. Mast died at 58, but he lived to see much of the rigidity go out of the pursuit of science. Curricula and course material that chafed him during his own school days are broadening. Science fairs and clubs, which he boosted, are becoming more and more important.
Answers to problems will be coming in for a long time, all because Gifford M. Mast "wanted to know why."
From Charlou Dolan:
Quad-City Times (Davenport, Iowa), Wednesday, 13 Sep 1972:
A man who grew from a teen-age tinkerer to president of a company with markets around the world, Gifford M. Mast, founder of Mast Development Co., Davenport, died today in Mercy Hospital after a three-month illness. He was 58. Mr. Mast, 219 E. Kimberly Road, Davenport, organized in 1944 the company which today manufactures learning systems, photo-optical devices, and air-monitoring equipment. A division of Mast Development in Meadville, Pa., the Keystone View Co., makes optometric equipment.
Memorial services for Mr. Mast will be 3 p.m. Friday in St. John's United Methodist Church, Davenport. Burial will be in Davenport Memorial Park. Visitation begins at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Hill & Fredericks Mortuary, Davenport. Memorials may be made to the Scott County Community Health Center or to the Rotary Scholarship Loan Fund. Mast Development Co. will be closed Friday in his honor.
While still in his teens, Mr. Mast helped his parents with nursery exhibits at the Mississippi Valley Fair, but his greatest personal contribution to the exposition was a mechanical man he created for the Quality Milk Assn. The body was made of milk cans and plumbing fixtures, and it operated by automatic phonograph. "I combined coat hangers with an old turntable to make it repeat a spiel every so often," Mr. Mast once recalled about his early invention.
He was also active in the Science Club at Davenport High School, and once said he learned almost as much in the club as in subject matter courses.
Mr. Mast attended the University of Chicago, where he graduated with a bachelor of science degree in physics and a Phi Beta Kappa key in 1935. He obtained a master of science degree in engineering science from Harvard university in 1939.
He began his career in research and development with Thomas Edison's youngest son, Theodore, in New Jersey. While still a graduate student at Harvard, Mr. Mast worked at the 1939 New York World's Fair as a science designer with the famous industrial designer, Walter Darwin Teague, who was responsible for eight major buildings.
Mr. Mast first opened a consulting business in Davenport in 1939, but World War II caused an interruption while he headed a team at the Jam Handy Organization in Detroit, Mich., designing aerial gunnery equipment and associated training devices.
On his return to Davenport in December 1944, he rented an old grocery store building and once again opened his consulting business with two associates who had worked with him during the war.
Mr. Mast had also previously done industrial design work with General Design Corp., Chicago, and worked with Henry Dreyfus on design of the John Deere farm equipment, an don products for the Hotpoint Division of General Electric.
He was at one time a physics teacher at St. Ambrose College, Davenport. He was recently appointed chairman of the Augustana College Research Committee.
In his leisure hours Mr. Mast devoted much of his energy to work in mental health organizations. He was elected president of the Scott County Association for Mental Health in 1955, and the Scott Mental Health Center in 1957. He also served on the education committee of the National Association for Mental Health and was one of two Iowa members on the board of the National Association for Mental Health. In 1966 Mr. Mast was appointed to head a committee to develop a comprehensive, coordinated mental health program for Scott County. He was a member of the board of directors of the Iowa Mental Health Assn.
He was also active in the YMCA and served as a member of the leadership gifts committee named in 1970 to raise money for the expansion of the program of the Greater Scott County YM-YWCA. He was chairman of the Davenport YMCA membership drive during the 1950s.
In 1965 Mr. Mast was the only Quad-City member of the 104-member foreign trade commission from Iowa, who spent 20 days in Europe developing trade for the state. The group spent half an hour talking with President Lyndon B. Johnson before leaving on their trip abroad.
A number of patents have been issued to Mr. Mast, and he has written a number of articles published in technical journals. He was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, the American Society of Industrial Designers, and the National Society for Programmed Instruction. He is listed in the World's Who's Who in Commerce and Industry. He was an active member of the Rotary Club.
Mr. Mast was born in Davenport. He married Beth Baker in 1944 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. He is survived by his wife; sons, Gifford M. Jr., Meadville, Pa.; Terrill, Lexington, Ky.; Eric, Akron, Ohio; and Roderick, at home; a daughter, Sara Mast, at home; and four grandchildren, including one born today to his son Gifford.
Quad-City Times (Davenport, Iowa), Friday, 15 Sep 1972:
Gifford M. Mast
During his lifetime Gifford M. Mast, founder of the Mast Development Co., was granted many patents for his developments and inventions. He made his greatest contribution, however, in an area in which he held no patent, the advancement and welfare of his fellow man.
The world will remember him for his learning systems, his photo-optical devices and air-monitoring equipment. His community remembers Mr. Mast for his devotion to a host of civic causes, whether it was a drive for mental health organizations, the YMCA, or the Rotary Club.
Mr. Mast was Davenport's "The Man Who Wanted To Know Why." His forte was the quick mathematics of the slide rule, the finality of formulae. But added to this was a generous dash of the chemistry that turns curiosity into a virtue.
Along with science, his passion was education--not only the education for himself--but new vistas of educaiton for the young. He viewed no question as stupid. "It's often the question which appears stupid which is really the most searching," he said.
Mr. Mast died at 58, but he lived to see much of the rigidity go out of the pursuit of science. Curricula and course material that chafed him during his own school days are broadening. Science fairs and clubs, which he boosted, are becoming more and more important.
Answers to problems will be coming in for a long time, all because Gifford M. Mast "wanted to know why."
Quad-City Times (Davenport, Iowa), Wednesday, 13 Sep 1972:
A man who grew from a teen-age tinkerer to president of a company with markets around the world, Gifford M. Mast, founder of Mast Development Co., Davenport, died today in Mercy Hospital after a three-month illness. He was 58. Mr. Mast, 219 E. Kimberly Road, Davenport, organized in 1944 the company which today manufactures learning systems, photo-optical devices, and air-monitoring equipment. A division of Mast Development in Meadville, Pa., the Keystone View Co., makes optometric equipment.
Memorial services for Mr. Mast will be 3 p.m. Friday in St. John's United Methodist Church, Davenport. Burial will be in Davenport Memorial Park. Visitation begins at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Hill & Fredericks Mortuary, Davenport. Memorials may be made to the Scott County Community Health Center or to the Rotary Scholarship Loan Fund. Mast Development Co. will be closed Friday in his honor.
While still in his teens, Mr. Mast helped his parents with nursery exhibits at the Mississippi Valley Fair, but his greatest personal contribution to the exposition was a mechanical man he created for the Quality Milk Assn. The body was made of milk cans and plumbing fixtures, and it operated by automatic phonograph. "I combined coat hangers with an old turntable to make it repeat a spiel every so often," Mr. Mast once recalled about his early invention.
He was also active in the Science Club at Davenport High School, and once said he learned almost as much in the club as in subject matter courses.
Mr. Mast attended the University of Chicago, where he graduated with a bachelor of science degree in physics and a Phi Beta Kappa key in 1935. He obtained a master of science degree in engineering science from Harvard university in 1939.
He began his career in research and development with Thomas Edison's youngest son, Theodore, in New Jersey. While still a graduate student at Harvard, Mr. Mast worked at the 1939 New York World's Fair as a science designer with the famous industrial designer, Walter Darwin Teague, who was responsible for eight major buildings.
Mr. Mast first opened a consulting business in Davenport in 1939, but World War II caused an interruption while he headed a team at the Jam Handy Organization in Detroit, Mich., designing aerial gunnery equipment and associated training devices.
On his return to Davenport in December 1944, he rented an old grocery store building and once again opened his consulting business with two associates who had worked with him during the war.
Mr. Mast had also previously done industrial design work with General Design Corp., Chicago, and worked with Henry Dreyfus on design of the John Deere farm equipment, an don products for the Hotpoint Division of General Electric.
He was at one time a physics teacher at St. Ambrose College, Davenport. He was recently appointed chairman of the Augustana College Research Committee.
In his leisure hours Mr. Mast devoted much of his energy to work in mental health organizations. He was elected president of the Scott County Association for Mental Health in 1955, and the Scott Mental Health Center in 1957. He also served on the education committee of the National Association for Mental Health and was one of two Iowa members on the board of the National Association for Mental Health. In 1966 Mr. Mast was appointed to head a committee to develop a comprehensive, coordinated mental health program for Scott County. He was a member of the board of directors of the Iowa Mental Health Assn.
He was also active in the YMCA and served as a member of the leadership gifts committee named in 1970 to raise money for the expansion of the program of the Greater Scott County YM-YWCA. He was chairman of the Davenport YMCA membership drive during the 1950s.
In 1965 Mr. Mast was the only Quad-City member of the 104-member foreign trade commission from Iowa, who spent 20 days in Europe developing trade for the state. The group spent half an hour talking with President Lyndon B. Johnson before leaving on their trip abroad.
A number of patents have been issued to Mr. Mast, and he has written a number of articles published in technical journals. He was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, the American Society of Industrial Designers, and the National Society for Programmed Instruction. He is listed in the World's Who's Who in Commerce and Industry. He was an active member of the Rotary Club.
Mr. Mast was born in Davenport. He married Beth Baker in 1944 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. He is survived by his wife; sons, Gifford M. Jr., Meadville, Pa.; Terrill, Lexington, Ky.; Eric, Akron, Ohio; and Roderick, at home; a daughter, Sara Mast, at home; and four grandchildren, including one born today to his son Gifford.
Quad-City Times (Davenport, Iowa), Friday, 15 Sep 1972:
Gifford M. Mast
During his lifetime Gifford M. Mast, founder of the Mast Development Co., was granted many patents for his developments and inventions. He made his greatest contribution, however, in an area in which he held no patent, the advancement and welfare of his fellow man.
The world will remember him for his learning systems, his photo-optical devices and air-monitoring equipment. His community remembers Mr. Mast for his devotion to a host of civic causes, whether it was a drive for mental health organizations, the YMCA, or the Rotary Club.
Mr. Mast was Davenport's "The Man Who Wanted To Know Why." His forte was the quick mathematics of the slide rule, the finality of formulae. But added to this was a generous dash of the chemistry that turns curiosity into a virtue.
Along with science, his passion was education--not only the education for himself--but new vistas of educaiton for the young. He viewed no question as stupid. "It's often the question which appears stupid which is really the most searching," he said.
Mr. Mast died at 58, but he lived to see much of the rigidity go out of the pursuit of science. Curricula and course material that chafed him during his own school days are broadening. Science fairs and clubs, which he boosted, are becoming more and more important.
Answers to problems will be coming in for a long time, all because Gifford M. Mast "wanted to know why."
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