Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1928, Stephen Sebastyan (birth name: Istvan Sebestyen) left home during the Second World War, afraid of persecution for having Jewish ancestry. He survived bomb blasts, living alone on the streets in Budapest, and several periods of forced labour. After the war, he finished high school and attended Jozsef Nador Technical University from 1946 to 1949, also working for the engineering firm VASBETONIPARY RT as a technical assistant for research, development, and manufacture of pre-cast and pre-stressed concrete elements. In 1949, Sebastyan decided to leave Hungary after the rise of the Communist regime. He escaped with his wife through Czechoslovakia, to Austria, then Italy finally arriving to Israel. He was in Israel from 1949-1953. There he was given the Hebrew name Gad Yishai as part of the immigration process. He built roads with the Israeli Army. He was also involved in Airport Design and Construction through the engineering component of the Israeli Air Force which greatly helped him in later years with Transport Canada. The Israeli Army Corps of Engineers sponsored him to study engineering in the United States. He chose the University of Michigan where he earned his Bachelor of Science in 1953, his Master of Science in 1958, and his PhD in 1963, all in the field of Civil Engineering.
While he pursued his PhD, Sebastyan moved to Canada in 1958 where he began work as an Assistant to the Design Engineer in the Construction Branch of the Department of Transport (DOT). In 1960, he was promoted to Head of the Engineering Design Section of the Construction Branch. After a reorganization in 1966, Sebastyan was named Chief, Engineering Design Section, of the new Construction Engineering and Architecture Branch. His focus for the early period of his career, from 1958 to 1969, was on pavement and foundation design and construction projects at airports in Canada and overseas, including a number in remote areas. He oversaw the Department’s pavement evaluation program, and undertook development and applied research projects, including the creation of technical policies and standards. From 1969 to 1974, Sebastyan served as the Manager of the Engineering Division at Transport, and the Manager of Design and Construction for the New Montreal International Airport (Mirabel) Project. In 1974, he was appointed Director of the Airport Facilities Branch. In this capacity, he was responsible for policies, standards and guidelines for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the surface facilities of Canadian Airports as well as for the applied research to support such work. The standards were based on best practices derived from technical data and information collected during the two decades that Transport Canada owned and operated the 130 major airports in the Canadian airport system. Airport personnel attended training courses on the standards, which was one of the principle means by which DOT technical expertise was disseminated throughout Canada.
In 1977, Sebastyan moved to become the Director General of Engineering and Architectural Services at the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. He was responsible for the planning and implementation of the Department’s yearly capital and maintenance program including engineering and architectural services covering all branches of engineering. However, he moved back to Transport Canada in 1980, serving first as Director General, Airport and Construction Services, then as Assistant Administrator, Airports and Construction. Sebastyan’s last years in the Federal public service were with Public Works Canada, where from 1985 to 1986, he was Assistant Deputy Minister for Architectural and Engineering Services.
Over his career at Transport Canada, Sebastyan also taught at Carleton University and University of Ottawa, first as a Lecturer on Pavement Design, then as an associate or adjunct professor of Engineering Management. He was also a member of Queen’s University’s Advisory Council on Engineering from 1977 to 1980. When Sebastyan retired from the Federal Public Service, he held a series of executive positions with the international pharmaceutical manufacturing company, IMMUNO. From 1986 to 1990, he was Executive Vice-President of IMMUNO-US, then Vice-President and Secretary-Treasurer of IMMUNO (Canada). From 1990 to 1997, he served as Chairman of IMMUNO (Canada), then Engineering Advisor to IMMUNO International, before being named Director of IMMUNO-US. Sebastyan stepped away from IMMUNO in 1998, but did not fully retire. He established a consulting company, G.Y. Sebastyan & Assoc. Ltd., working principally as an airport engineering consultant with other companies, such as LPS Avia Inc. He also wrote a manuscript he called the “Airport Handbook”, which is a manual on the planning, design, construction, maintenance, management and operation of airports.
Sebastyan authored numerous technical publications and was awarded the Canadian Good Roads Association’s President’s Gold Medal for technical papers in 1961 and 1969. In addition to being a registered professional engineer in the Province of Ontario, he was Warden, Camp 12, for The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer. Sebastyan was a member of: The Canadian Geotechnical Survey; The Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists, U.S.; the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Foundation; and the Engineering Roads and Transportation Association of Canada. He also served on various National Research Council of Canada committees, including its: Associated Committee on Geotechnical Research, 1969-1972; Permafrost Subcommittee, 1969-1972; and the Associated Committee on Aeronautical Structures Panel on Runway Roughness and Associated Problems. He participated in various technical committees of the Canadian Government Specifications Board, the U.S. Transportation Research Board, and the Interdepartmental Policy Committee of the Government of Canada. For his contributions, he was awarded the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal in 1978.
Stephen Sebastyan died November 12, 2010 after a battle with cancer.