Gerard G. "Gerry" Gilmore, a former principal and senior vice president of architect-engineer HOK Inc., St. Louis, who helped guide its global growth over a 40-year career there, died Feb. 7 in Chesterfield, Mo., following surgery. He was 75. A former U.S. Navy officer who helped run construction operations at the Charleston, S.C., naval shipyard, Gilmore was hired by HOK co-founder Gyo Obata in 1963 and served in top marketing and business development roles and on the firm's board until 2001. He retired in 2004, but remained a consultant until 2010. "Gerry did as much as any individual to take the firm from a young St. Louis architectural office to a national and global practice," says HOK Vice Chairman Clark Davis. HOK ranks at No. 30 on ENR's list of the Top 500 Design Firms, with $462.3 million in 2010 revenue, including $196 million from outside the U.S. "He was one of the last of the 'handshake' guys," says Michael Mindlin, architecture director in St. Louis of Jacobs Engineering.