Well done Zwi (Miguel Zwi)

>>> 2009jul/set, ABES Bio Magazine

He began his professional career in 1952 at the then-renowned Saturnino de Brito Engineering Office, where he eventually became Technical Director, participating in the design and construction of water supply and sanitary sewerage systems for Natal, Caicó, and Mossoró (RN), Guarabira, Mamanguape, and Campina Grande (PB), Fortaleza (CE); the construction of Brasília (DF); the Landulfo Alves Refinery (BA), USIMINAS and ACESITA (MG), as well as hydraulic scale models for the Banabuiú Dam (CE), the CSN water intake (RJ), and the Taquari (RS), Boa Esperança (PI), and Estreito (MG) dams. Through Planta Engenharia, he worked on projects in Petrolina, Anápolis, Itumbiara, Catalão, and Jaraguá (GO). At Planidro, he coordinated the preliminary design of the Rio Descoberto water supply system (Brasília, DF).

In 1971, he joined the former COMASP, now SABESP, where he remained until 1985. At COMASP, under the leadership of the brilliant Haroldo Jezler and João Yamada, he headed the "Specialist Engineers Division," later renamed the "Water Treatment Division" (which included outstanding professionals such as Guilherme von Atzingen, Marcial Gil Latou, Luis Augusto da Mota Pacheco, among others), coordinating the expansion of the Rio Grande Water Treatment Plant (from 1.4 to 3.5 m³/s) and the Rio Claro Water Treatment Plant (from 2.0 to 4.0 m³/s). After COMASP became SABESP, in 1975 he assumed responsibility for coordinating projects throughout the interior of the state. In 1978, he was promoted to Superintendent. During this period, his contributions to SANEGRAN, the SANESP Plan, the Interior Water Supply Management System (SGS), and the Paraíba do Sul (CEIVAP) and Paranapanema (CEEIPEMA) River Basin Committees stand out. He represented SABESP in numerous technical standardization working groups at ABNT, BNH, and CETESB. He left SABESP in November 1985 to work as a consultant in Brazil and throughout Latin America, becoming one of the foremost specialists in the diagnosis and evaluation of water and sanitation utilities.

He taught subjects related to hydraulics and sanitation at UFRJ and PUC-Rio and held the Chair of Sanitation Engineering at the University of Brasília. He published three landmark papers, two on filtration in water treatment plants and another on "tractive stress in sewer collectors" (tractive force). He was a member of ABES and AWWA for more than forty years.

Miguel Zwi was my supervisor at COMASP and later at SABESP (1971–1975). I am deeply proud of that and grateful to God for having placed him in my path.

Zwi possessed, in abundance, technical knowledge, clarity of thought, broad culture, ethics, professional conduct, honesty, integrity, joy, and an unwavering determination to make things happen. He was fearless, objective, discreet, and free of vanity (except perhaps for a certain professional pride, knowing he was truly exceptional). In short, he was a good man and a great human being.

He was also ironic, sharp-witted, humorous, and incapable of letting an opportunity to joke with others pass by. Studious and persistent, he was never discouraged by occasional setbacks.

Above all, he was an ENGINEER, and an extraordinarily intelligent person. His brilliance shone so brightly that it illuminated those around him and, unfortunately, at times bothered certain colleagues(?) who will disappear without being missed.

Miguel Zwi, a Brazilian born to Russian Jewish parents, was born on March 27, 1930, in Rio de Janeiro, RJ. In 1952, he graduated in Civil Engineering from the National School of Engineering of the University of Brazil (now the Polytechnic School of UFRJ). He passed away on Wednesday, March 4, 2009, at the age of seventy-nine, in Campinas, SP, where he had lived for the last fifteen years. He was survived by his wife (Mrs. Mimi), four children (Hélio, Sérgio, Silvia, and Diana), and eight grandchildren. He also left behind an immense sense of loss among all mentally healthy people who knew him and a tremendous void in Brazilian engineering, in ABES, and in our country.

I am certain that he lived a happy life, with the satisfaction of having been useful to society and to those around him.

Well done, Miguel!

With affection, MFyF

Miguel Zwi was one of the finest and most accomplished Brazilian hydraulic and sanitary engineers.

Miguel Fernández y Fernández, engineer, chronicler, and columnist, member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Engineering # written in 2009jul/set, 3.073 characters