Dick South graduated from The Ohio State University in 1952, with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. His first work experience after college was in refrigeration and air-conditioning design at an Exxon oil refinery in Aruba, from 1952 to 1959. He then worked as a Refrigeration Service Manager for the Trane Company in LaCrosse, WI. In 1969 he joined Brooks Borg Skiles as a partner. He retired in 1997.

Mr. South recalls that during his time in ASHRAE, “there was a push to save energy as President Carter said we were going to run out of fossil fuels. Natural gas was a thing of the past. Solar energy was the new technology.” With an extensive background in refrigeration, he was also in a position to experience the first efforts to eliminate CFCs in refrigerants, due to the destructive effects on the ozone layer.

He has many fond memories of ASHRAE in the 1970s, attending the Central States region meetings with colleagues Gerry Anderson, C.W. (Rusty) Miller, Don Bonicamp, Curt Hammer, Verne Stewart, and others. A favorite memory of his presidency was “working with ISU ME Professor Jim Woods to form the ASHRAE Student Chapter.”