Albert Arcus
ARCUS Albert Lawrence (Bert), BE(Hons) BA(Hons) PHD (1922-2013)
From an engineering degree at UWA to a distinguished international career.
Bert was born in Boulder, Western Australia on November 12, 1922, the eldest son of civil engineer, John Malcolm Arcus and his wife, Violet Pearl Arcus, nee Blake.
Bert grew up in Mackenzie Street, Wembley and attended Leederville State School. From 1936 to 1939, Bert attended Guildford Grammar School and excelled at football and rowing.
In 1940 he commenced work as a junior engineer at the City of Perth Electricity and Gas Department. In 1941 he enrolled in an engineering degree at the University of Western Australia, completing it, with honours, in 1945. He was a resident in St Georges College in 1942. Bert served three terms as President of the Guild of Undergraduates at UWA and was Captain of the UWA Boat Club in 1944.
Bert enlisted in the AIF, in January 1945, rising to the rank of acting Lieutenant. He attended the AIF School of Military Engineering.
Awarded a Rhodes Scholarship for 1946, he studied at Oxford University and graduated in 1949 with an honours degree in Arts. After spending six months in Canada, he returned to Western Australia in March 1949 and was an executive with Arcus Limited. In September 1949, he returned to England to take up a position with an engineering firm in London.
In 1952, Bert was appointed Assistant Trade Commissioner, in Indonesia by the Australian Government. He subsequently was Contracts Officer Canadian Department of Defence Production and Senior Consultant Management and Science at Touche Ross Bailey and Smart, New York.
In 1957, Bert commenced doctoral studies at the University of Canada, Berkeley and in 1958 held a Ford Foundation pre-doctoral fellowship.
In 1963 Bert was awarded at PHD and also worked as a Professional Counsellor with the International Labour Organisation, Geneva and as a Senior Research Associate at the Logistics Management Institute. In 1969, Bert was appointed Professor of Production and Logistics Management University of Houston.
He married widow Vivienne Constance Alford (nee Christmas) in Houston, Texas on January 30, 1973.
Bert died on April 5, 2013, in Houston, Texas. His wife predeceased him in 2010.
Bert made a major bequest to St Georges College enabling the Arcus Court to be developed in 2020.
References:
West Australian, 6.4.1945, p. 7.
West Australian, 15.12.1945, p. 10.
West Australian, 28.9.1949, p. 2.
The Georgian, Issue 2 Volume 44, Summer 2020/21, St Georges College Crawley WA.
Forward, Guildford Grammar School, December 2021, p. 32.
Compiled by Chris Fitzhardinge April 13, 2026
