Suthersan

Suthan S. Suthersan, executive vice president and chief technical officer of ARCADIS North America, died suddenly on Feb. 20 at age 60 in Yardley, Pa., the company said. ARCADIS declined to disclose the cause of death for Suthersan, a 26-year firm veteran who was a pioneer in environmental waste-remediation engineering, the company said. ARCADIS said a 1996 Suthersan book on remediation design “broke the mold on conventional approaches to the remediation of soil and groundwater, challenging long-term industry paradigms [and] influencing regulatory trends.” A second edition was published in December. ARCADIS said Suthersan originated numerous techniques to accelerate natural biological degradation of contaminants, held 20 patents and became “one of the most prominent leaders of a technical wave” in the field. When named CTO in 2013, the firm termed Suthersan “the cornerstone of ARCADIS’ technical know-how.” The National Groundwater Association said Suthersan’s online columns were “among the most downloaded each year.”

Eberhard

Douglas D. Eberhard, 54, senior director for infrastructure project development at software firm Autodesk and a pioneer in use of intelligent 3D computer modeling, visualization and web collaboration, died in Denver on Feb. 11, after a brief illness, industry associates say. He joined the firm in 2007 and also had been chief technology officer of Parsons Brinckerhoff. He joined the latter firm in 1991 when it bought 4D Imaging Inc., a computer modeling company of which he was founder and president. Eberhard also was a founding member of the Transportation Research Board’s geometric visualization committee. “Many current industry best practices for 3D visualization, BIM and [virtual design and construction] are a direct result of Doug’s contributions. He truly was a change agent,” says Rachel K. Arulraj, president of industry IT vendor InfoInnovation and a former PB colleague. Eberhard’s major projects included web-based database development for Washington state’s Alaska Way Viaduct and 3D-4D modeling for Manhattan’s Fulton Street Transit Center. “Doug was a thought leader who championed the use of BIM for infrastructure and helped industry leaders find business value in emerging technology,” says Tristan Randall, Autodesk strategic projects executive.