Jacques Michael Faigenblum, 49; Engineer, Researcher, Scholar

It was a small story, but a telling one. One day Jacques Michael Faigenblum saw a woman in a street. She had been knocked down, and the ice cream cone she was holding was melting on the pavement.

Mr. Faigenblum picked up the woman, talked to her and bought her another ice cream cone.

"He was absolutely the kindest person I've ever met; he was really concerned for people," said his widow, Judith Robin.

Whether it was a woman on the sidewalk or a beggar in Guatemala, he didn't change his stride.

"He had a very keen sense of justice," said Marilyn Tonon, a former colleague. "I saw him do similar things in the Third World. He could rarely pass beggars and not give them something. He treated everyone the same. It was a kind of personal respect for people."

Mr. Faigenblum, an environmental engineer, researcher and scholar, died Nov. 6 after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 49.

He traveled the world, evaluating water systems and the environmental health of poor nations in Africa, Central America and the Caribbean.

"He had the soul of an activist, a leader, a person who wanted to right wrongs," said Maria Ackley, a friend. "He was a person with a global reach."

Born in England, he joined the British equivalent of the Peace Corps after graduating from college. His experiences in Jamaica formed the basis for what would become a lifelong interest in studying the problems of Third World nations.

He moved to the United States to study sanitary engineering and environmental management, and his doctoral dissertation took him to Guatemalan villages, where he studied the health benefits of clean water systems.

In 1977 he joined the public health faculty at the University of Washington.

He also worked at the Battelle Institute, the Washington Department of Ecology and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Mr. Faigenblum also had a strong commitment to the Jewish community and was raised in a home steeped in Jewish learning and music. Music was one of his great loves, said Robin, and he sang for several years with the Pacific Northwest Chamber Chorus.

He was also an accomplished photographer, made jewelry and, Robin said, instilled in his two young sons a passion for railroading. She said she can't pass a train without being stopped by her sons.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by sons Michael and Elias; his mother, Feiga, who lives in Israel; and two brothers, Maurice of England and Menachem of Israel.

A memorial service will be held at 6:30 p.m. today at Congregation Beth Shalom, 6800 35th Ave. N.E.

The family asks that memorials be made to the Temple Beth Shalom Prayer Fund or KUOW Radio.