Barrington man makes gift to University of Illinois

A Barrington man’s gift to the University of Illinois was among 16 for more than $18 million that were announced Friday in a news release regarding the school foundation’s 76th annual meeting.

Frederic Nearing will provide more than $500,000 in funding for the new Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering building.

A 1943 electrical engineering graduate of the school, Nearing had a long and successful career in electrical engineering. He worked for Western Electric’s Field Engineer Force during World War II, Bell Laboratories, Allen B. Dumont Labs, Graybar Electric Co., Crossley Associates, Hewlett-Packard, and his own company, Electronic Instrument Associates.

A longtime donor to the university, he and his late wife, Elizabeth, created the Frederic G. and Elizabeth H.

Nearing Endowed Professorship of Electrical and Computer Engineering.