Engineer Anthony M. DiGioia, Jr., 74, is co-founder and former owner of engineering firm GAI Consultants and co-owner of DiGioia Gray Associates, both based in Pittsburgh. DiGioia was at the forefront of the then-emerging area of geotechnical engineering in the 1960s and GAI was one of the founding practices of the Association of Soil and Foundation Engineers in 1969. He is also well known for his work on transmission line foundations, as well as the utilization of coal combustion waste products, such as fly ash.
Three DiGioia sons followed their father into his profession: Matthew, a research engineer for Penn State Electro-Optics Center; David, a civil engineer at DiGioia Gray; and a third son, his eldest, 51-year-old Anthony M. DiGioia III. But this son, after practicing engineering briefly, turned to medical research and became a physician . He now has an orthopedic medical practice and is an expert in computer-assisted orthopedic surgery, a field that includes problems of replacing joints in peoples’ hips and knees. He also is clinical associate professor of orthopedic surgery with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.