Wayne Hamann

Wayne Carl Hamann, born July 7, 1938, was a North Dakotan at heart, raised on the prairie, born in Richardton, North Dakota. He was the eldest son of Bill and Viola Hamann out of 10 children.

Wayne grew up working odd jobs that reflected the life of the prairie: feeding cattle, fixing ranch fences, cleaning barns, and rounding up livestock. From an early age, he showed curiosity, skill, and a love for building and repairing things. He enjoyed woodworking, model trains, and tinkering on a 1951 Mercury. He graduated from Dickinson High School, received a National Merit Scholarship, and went on to serve in the U.S. Army.

The Army assigned Wayne to the Signal Corps in Seoul as part of the Korean Military Advisory Group. After completing his service, he attended North Dakota Agricultural College on the GI Bill, majoring in mechanical engineering. While there, he was elected Student Body President and led a successful statewide ballot initiative to change the school’s name to North Dakota State University, the name it bears today.

Following his time at NDSU, Wayne received a full scholarship through the National Science Graduate Research Fellowship program to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied mechanical engineering. At MIT, he completed a pioneering thesis on computer-aided design and engineering. His research later earned him the moniker “the Grandfather of CAD/CAM” within the global automotive engineering community.

While at MIT, Wayne married Mary Patricia “Pat” Weber in 1963 in Brookline, Massachusetts, who he had been dating since high school. Pat had traveled with him from Dickinson to Boston, and together they created a lifelong partnership. In July 1964, they moved to Dearborn, MI, where Wayne began his career at Ford Motor Company in Product Engineering. He remained at the forefront of automotive engineering throughout his career, serving as Product Manager for the Ford Fiesta, Ford’s first front-wheel-drive vehicle, and later as Director of Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) for Vehicle Systems. He also continued his education, earning an MBA from the University of Michigan Dearborn.

Wayne’s work helped transform automotive design and engineering. President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore presented him with a Computerworld Smithsonian Technology Award for his contributions to the supercomputing industry during a ceremony in the Rose Garden. His work decreased the product design window by 90% and nearly eliminated the need for clay models. He also coordinated partnerships to install CAE supercomputers at the federal government and at the University of Michigan’s School of Engineering in Ann Arbor.

Perhaps most importantly, Wayne led the use of CAE supercomputer technology for crash modeling. His team fed test data into modeling programs that could run countless simulations, leading to major advances in vehicle safety and helping reduce auto fatalities and serious injuries over the past several decades worldwide.

In 2013, Wayne and Pat moved full time to Presque Isle, MI, where he became known for his flashy red boat and his daily walks with his beloved furry companion, Cody. He was truly his happiest lakeside at Grand Lake with a stogie and a newspaper

Beyond his remarkable professional accomplishments, Wayne loved to create and build. He made furniture, helped Pat design and build displays for her store, Trisha’s Gifts, and continued taking on hands-on projects well into later life. Before a stroke slowed him down at age 82, he completed one final major project: paneling the bunkhouse at the cottage in Presque Isle and building matching furniture.

Wayne is survived by his wife, Pat; his children, Tim and his husband, Brian Zybura, Marinda and her partner, Mike Mueller, and Katina and her husband, Brett Dragwo; his grandchildren, Elora and Zander Gundersen (Katina) ; and his siblings, Noell Reinheller, Bill Hamann, Lynnie Melena, Charlotte Hamann, Louie Hamann and Dan Hamann and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents and his siblings, Joan, Gary, and Bonnie.

Wayne will be remembered for his brilliance, curiosity, craftsmanship, love of family, and lifelong ability to imagine, design, and build a better way forward.

A private memorial service for Wayne will be scheduled in the future.

If you'd like to make a donation in Wayne's memory, the family requests NDSU's College of Engineering General Scholarship Fund. Go here and select that fund as the Designation.