As you may know already, but if you haven't heard - I am sad to announce that Lynn Bellenger passed away Oct. 19.

Everyone in this business should really be thankful for Lynn's contributions. As ASHRAE president, her motto was "modeling a sustainable world" and pushed the relevance of BIM and energy modeling. As the first female president in 116 years, her contribution to ASHRAE itself was a breath of fresh air. In my opinion, she did more for ASHRAE than anyone in recent years.

I had only met Lynn once, but I spoke with her on the phone many times and she was always very pleasant and kind. Actually, one of my first weeks at Trane CDS, I ended up on a support phone call with Lynn. I had no idea who she was, but I simply remember asking her to "let me get some help" (to which she was very kind).

I then went and asked Clair Jacobson (who has also sadly passed away several months ago) for some help. 

Clair asked "who is it?" 
I told him "Lynn Bellenger.." and he said with a grin, "Yeah, I better take that one" 

He picked up the phone and said "hi" (as though to an old friend) and they quickly resolved the issue

Afterwards, he told me that Lynn was exceptionally sharp and for some reason, I remembered her among our other very sharp customers. The difference was not necessarily her intelligence or wit, but simply her kindness and genuine desire to improve the world through the buildings she worked on. Such features are very rare in this industry, especially among people of Lynn's stature. Thus, I was not surprised when I saw her elected as ASHRAE's president.

Everyone in this group owes Lynn a thank you for paving the way and establishing the importance of ... modeling a sustainable world.

Funeral Arrangements are private

If you would like to send condolences, email publicrelations@ashrae.org. Messages will be assembled ino a remembrance for the Bellenger family.

ASHRAE has created a memorial fund in her name: To honor the remarkable legacy that she leaves, ASHRAE announced on Friday the creation of the Lynn G. Bellenger Memorial Fund, which will be used to recognize women in engineering through scholarships or other means. Please click here if you would like to donate. Otherwise, contributions can be mailed to Lynn G. Bellenger Memorial Fund c/o ASHRAE 1791 Tullie Cir. NE Atlanta, GA 30329. https://xp20.ashrae.org/secure/LynnBellengerMemorial/index.php