Samy Elias, designer of WVU's transit system, dies

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP)—Samy E.G. Elias, who designed West Virginia University's Personal Rapid Transit system, has died. He was 74.

Elias, who had cancer, died Saturday at his home in Lincoln, Neb. He was associate dean of engineering research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln at the time of his death.

Elias was born in Cairo and came to the United States in 1956. He started working at WVU in 1965 as an associate professor of industrial engineering. In 1967 he became a full professor, and in 1969 he became chairman of the industrial engineering department.

By the time he left the university in 1982, he had supervised the construction of five PRT stations and nearly eight miles of track on the shuttle system that crisscrosses the university's downtown and Evansdale campuses and parts of Morgantown. The first phase opened in 1975. Since then, it has carried about 61 million passengers.

The computer-directed, electrically powered system operates like a horizontal elevator. PRT passengers push buttons for their destinations and computers dispatch a car to the site.

In October, university officials rededicated the PRT Engineering Station in Elias' name. Elias called the system, "the most challenging and enjoyable work of my life."

Elias was a consultant for transportation systems. including the New York Transit Authority, General Electric Co. and The Cincinnati Transit Co.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Church in Fairfax, Va.