WICKHAM George Wickham, the former principal of San Francisco tunnel and geotechnical engineer Jacobs Associates Inc. who was known for his cost-estimating expertise, died on Oct. 25 in Lake Wildwood, Calif. He was 89. Wickham joined the firm in 1957 after 10 years of work for a contractor. He co-authored a 1974 research paper that introduced rock-structure rating methodology to tunnel design, according to Jacobs. The approach quantifies and predicts the support required for a tunnel based on key geologic parameters. Says the company, “Others have built on this work to produce rock-mass classification systems” that are widely used in
POPE Jerry G. Pope, former vice president, chief estimator and special projects manager at Hensel Phelps Construction Co., Greeley, Colo., and industry activist in the state and nationally, died in Greeley on Oct. 2 of complications of heart disease. He was 75. A recognized expert in masonry construction and estimating, Pope was a former president of the Colorado Mason Contractors Association and the Colorado Masonry Institute. A 14-year Hensel Phelps veteran, he also had been chairman of the construction management committee of the Associated General Contractors of Colorado and served on a similar committee for national AGC.
Jeffrey J. Zogg, a leader of New York state general contractors for more than two decades and an activist in the national Associated General Contractors group, died on Oct. 24 in Delmar, N.Y. The cause of death was sarcoma, a form of cancer, says the Associated General Contractors of New York State LLC. He was 61. ZOGG Zogg served as the group’s president and CEO since 2008, when it was formed in the merger of the General Building Contractors of New York State (GBC) and AGC’s New York State chapter, which represented heavy and highway construction firms. The combined chapter
ZOGG Jeffrey J. Zogg, a leader of New York state general contractors for more than two decades and an activist in the national Associated General Contractors organization, died Oct. 24 in Delmar, N.Y. The cause of death was sarcoma, a form of cancer, says the Associated General Contractors of New York State LLC. Zogg was 61. Zogg served as the group’s president and CEO since 2008, when it was formed following the merger of the General Building Contractors of New York State (GBC) and AGC’s New York State chapter, which represented heavy and highway construction firms. The combined chapter is
PICARDI E. Alfred Picardi, the structural engineer for Chicago’s 1,136-ft-tall Aon Center, died on Aug. 14 in Virginia Beach, Va. He was 88. Picardi eventually became chief engineer at Chicago’s Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, where he had a hand in designing the city’s 1,128-ft-tall John Hancock Center. He left the firm in 1967 and went to Perkins & Will, where he designed Aon, the world’s fourth-tallest building when completed in 1973. Picardi developed a way to use the tubular structure’s V-shaped exterior columns as a container for its mechanical systems and adapted the oil firm’s cost and risk simulations to
SEINUK Ysrael A. Seinuk, a structural engineer who pioneered innovative design techniques for tall buildings in New York City and around the world for more than 50 years, and who led two design firms, died on Sept. 14 in New York City at age 78. The cause was cancer, says a spokeswoman for Ysrael A. Seinuk PC, the New York City-based firm of which he was CEO. Seinuk devised innovative high-rise engineering approaches, including New York�s first use of seismic isolators and a frame for a slim structure that eliminated transfer girders. He was named an ENR Marksman in 1983
STEHLY Richard D. Stehly was an activist in the American Concrete Institute for more than 30 years, pushing the technical boundaries and construction possibilities of the materials to the global industry. But his Sept. 18 death in Edina, Minn., apparently after suffering a fatal heart attack at a hockey game, has silenced him only six months after reaching the advocacy group’s top spot as president. ACI says that Kenneth Hover, Cornell University professor of civil and environment engineering, and the group’s senior vice president, will succeed Stehly as president. Stehly was also senior vice president and principal engineer of American
Robert A. Olmsted, the first director of long-term planning for New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and a transportation engineer, builder, historian and industry mentor for more than 60 years, died on Aug. 16 in Manhattan. He was 85. Olmsted early in his career at the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel (left) and at the 2009 Manhattan Bridge centennial. Olmsted—a descendent of Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who designed New York City’s Central Park—began his own industry career in the late 1940s as a Cornell University engineering graduate on the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. A protégé of Ole Singstad, the innovative
Robert A. Olmsted, the first director of long-term planning for New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and a transportation engineer, builder, historian and industry mentor for more than 60 years, died on Aug. 16 in Manhattan. He was 85. Olmsted—a descendent of Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who designed New York City’s Central Park—began his own industry career in the late 1940s as a Cornell University engineering graduate on the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. A protégé of Ole Singstad, the innovative structure’s chief engineer, Olmsted went on to work for other New York-area transportation agencies and on global engineering
ROGERS John B. Rogers, a founder of what became RNL, a major Denver-based architect, died July 12 of complications of lung disease, in Denver. He was 88. A practice that Rogers founded in 1956 merged ten years later with two other firms to become RNL. Rogers, considered a pioneer in the profession, served as president for 30 years until the mid-1980s, and as chairman until 1995. With 250 employees and $29.1 million in 2009 revenue, the firm is No. 355 on ENR’s list of The Top 500 Design Firms. Rogers was an early advocate of integrated project delivery, the charrette
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