John L. Feirer
Dec. 29, 2000
John L. Feirer, professor emeritus in industrial technology and education, died Dec. 23 in Kalamazoo. He was 85.
Feirer, who taught at WMU from 1940 until his retirement in 1983, headed the Department of Industrial Technology and Education for 32 years. At the time of his retirement, it was the largest such department in the state.
He was the author of 20 books that were used in high schools across the nation. Some of his books were translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Slavic and Turkish. One was published in Braille.
In the mid 1970s, Feirer was the founder and director for four years of WMU's Center for Metric Education. He also served as executive editor of Industrial Education, the oldest and largest magazine for industrial, vocational and technical education in the world.
In 1982, he was named a Distinguished Faculty Scholar, the University's highest award for a faculty member.
He was an alumnus of the University of Wisconsin at Stout and earned a master's degree at the University of Minnesota. He earned a doctoral degree in industrial arts from the University of Oklahoma.