Five Countries - Alexander Borges

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Résumé :
Alexander Borges defied the odds. Growing up under the heavy cloud of Nazi Germany during World War II, he overcame polio, survived Allied air raids, and escaped the clutches of East German communism. With a knack for learning languages and a can-do attitude that served him well in a variety of work environments and cultures, he ended up serving as a civil engineer on some of the largest dams designed and built in the 1960s through early '80s. This inspirational memoir is a story of survival and success that spans seven decades and five countries and shows how a positive attitude and a love of people can fuel a fulfilling life.

Biographie:
Born in Germany in 1922, Alexander Richard Borges was the eldest son of pianists. Throughout World War II and the Allied and Russian occupation, he studied civil engineering and mastered six languages. After launching his career in Germany, his work took him to Colombia, the United States, Pakistan, and Argentina, ultimately becoming a U.S. citizen and traveling to another thirty-five countries. From 1959 to 1987, he held a number of positions with Harza Engineering Company, in Chicago, and was a lifetime member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, an honorary member of the Colombian Sociedad Antioque?a de Ingenieros, and a member of the Pakistan Engineering Council. He authored numerous professional papers on dams, locks, and gates and was an avid stamp collector, who produced thirty-eight topical stamp albums on engineering themes, which he exhibited at local and national stamp shows. Borges died in 2020 just three days shy of his ninety-eighth birthday. Through this book he lives on.