Norman Joseph Moriber passed away on August 20, 2019 in San Ramon, California. Norm worked in the corrosion field for 45 years and was a member of NACE International for almost 40 years. Over his career he received numerous awards from NACE including their R.A. Brannon Award, Distinguished Service Award, Western Area Engineer of the Year and R.F. Stratfull Awards. He served four years as Technical Editor for NACE’s Materials Performance, and was on the MP Editorial Advisory Board for thirteen years. Norm also chaired NACE’s Public Affairs Committee and served on the NACE Board of Directors.
Norm was a 1969 graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a BS in mechanical engineering and was a registered Professional Corrosion Engineer in California. He started his corrosion career with A.V. Smith/Professional Services Group learning the basics from past NACE President John Fitzgerald in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Norm got tired of the snow and moved to San Diego and Waters Consultants, where he learned more about cathodic protection and corrosion control from another past NACE President Don Waters.
Later he worked for nine years at ConCeCo as Chief Corrosion Engineer. He completed his professional career working for the Mears Group, Inc. for 15 years, becoming the Chief Engineer of their Integrity Solutions Division. His specialties were cathodic protection, stray direct current, external corrosion direct assessment, and cased piping isolation.
Norm had a very special tie to Australia. For decades he worked to make the platypus the official mascot for NACE because they were a rare mammal with a sense of electroreception. He lobbied that humans were not the only ones who could conduct an underwater pipeline survey. Please note the platypus pin on his lapel. He passed them out by the hundreds at NACE conferences to lobby for his beloved duck-billed mascot candidate.
Jack Tinnea