Related Links: Expanded obituary of John Lamberson LambersonJohn R. Lamberson, 79, former president of New York Stock Exchange-listed insurance broker Corroon & Black, founder of its construction practice and a 40-year industry insurance and surety veteran, died on Sept. 12 in Palo Alto, Calif.The cause was complications of cancer, says the National Academy of Construction, into which he was inducted in 2004.Lamberson left the firm in 1992, after its acquisition two years earlier by U.K.-based Willis, Faber & Dumas PLC. According to previous ENR coverage, the departure resulted in bitter litigation between Lamberson and the successor firm, Willis Corroon,
TORCIVIABenedict J. Torcivia Sr., an architectural engineer who grew contractor Torcon Inc., Red Bank, N.J., into one of the state's largest building firms and a major East Coast presence, died on Aug. 27 in Rumson.A firm spokesman says he died of natural causes but had been treated for lung cancer.Torcivia, 82, founded Torcon in 1965 and was succeeded as president by two sons in 2003.The firm, a major drug-industry builder, ranks at No. 151 on ENR's list of the Top 400 Contractors, with $376 million in 2011 revenue, including $62 million overseas. It also is No. 80 on the
CPP Inc. The researcher-practitioner, 89, whose innovative wind tunnel at Colorado State University attracted many visitors such as artist Andy Warhol (right) in 1971, pioneered wind-resistant design techniques that are standard today. Related Links: A Career Tribute to Jack E. Cermak by Wind Engineer Ahsan Kareem Colorado State University Slide Show on the Work of Jack E. Cermak Engineer Jack E. Cermak, who was dubbed the "father of wind engineering," and was a pioneer in the study and testing of the impact of extreme wind forces on engineered structures, died in his sleep on Aug. 21 in Fort Collins, Colo.,
Related Links: Ric Licata, 59, Founder-Principal of Reno Architect Licata Hansen Associates Website of J.F. White Contracting Co. Website of Garver LLC J.F. White Helps Build Worlds Largest Water Disinfection Plant in NYC Suburb W. Brock Johnson obituary Stephen J. Barlow obituary Three construction industry firms lost company leaders to cancer within the same week.Richard D. "Ric" Licata, principal and founder of Reno, Nev.-based Licata Hansen Associates Architecture, died there on Aug. 18 at age 59.Stephen J. Barlow, president and chief operating officer of Massachusetts design-build contractor J.F. White Contracting Co., died the next day, and W. Brock Johnson, CEO
Frank A. Lee, a chemical engineer who led publicly held Foster Wheeler Corp. during a decade of growth and innovation in the 1970s and fended off an acquisition attempt, died on Aug. 12 in Old Tappan, N.J. He was 88.LEELee was named president and CEO of the contractor-manufacturer in 1971, after difficulties in its boiler business had led to several years of revenue falloff. He noted the firm's "image problem in the market" in a 1974 Forbes magazine article.Lee helped expand the firm's global markets and presided over technical advances in fluidized-bed power-generation design and construction. But he opted not
Related Links: Company obituary of co-founder Bill Larson and links to related stories LARSONWilliam L. "Bill" Larson, who co-founded an architecture practice that grew in 45 years to become the 500-person design-engineering firm DLR Group, Overland Park, Kan., died on June 29 in Pinetop, Ariz. He was 88. The cause of death was complications from a series of falls, says a company spokesman.Larson was a vice president at architect Leo A Daly before founding his own firm in 1966, along with architect Irving R. Dana and engineer James P. Roubal. Dana Larson Roubal and Associates became DLR Group in
Bruce W. Woolpert, who left a career at Hewlett-Packard to lead Granite Rock Co., a family-owned Watsonville, Calif., construction materials supplier and paving contractor that grew with the state's once- booming economy, died on June 24 in a Lake Tahoe boating accident, says the firm. He was 61 and had been president and CEO since 1987. Granite Rock named as interim CEO Mark Kaminski, a board member and former chief of a metals producer. Granite Rock has 600 employees but did not disclose revenue. WOOLPERTGranite Rock's roots date to 1900, when Woolpert's grandfather, A.R. Wilson, launched the company and its
Related Links: Detailed obituary on William D. Kennedy Fifth International Symposium on Tunnel Safety and Security, March 14-16, 2012 KENNEDYWilliam D. "Bill" Kennedy, a transit engineering pioneer and a key figure in the development of tunnel ventilation systems for road and rail tunnels worldwide, died on June 23 at the age of 69. The cause was cancer, according to officials at Parsons Brinckerhoff, where he was a vice president and a 46-year company veteran.In the 1970s, Kennedy and a small group of colleagues worked with DeLeuw, Cather & Co. and Kaiser Engineers to develop the "Subway Environmental Design Handbook"
Related Links: Oh, By the Way: Don Short's Last ENR Commentary Website of The Tempest Co. Don L. Short II, a nationally known cost estimating expert and a prolific crusader for fundamentals in the practice, died June 8 in Omaha. He was 60 years old and had been diagnosed with liver cancer several weeks earlier.Short was president and founder of The Tempest Co., an Omaha estimating firm and consultant. He also was a two-term past president and Fellow of the American Society of Professional Estimators.Known for his bluntness, Short authored numerous articles and opinions that appeared regularly on ENR.com and
Related Links: Minimee Cited by ENR for Olympian Efforts to Spur Bridge Construction Utah Embraces Accelerated Construction Method AASHTO obituary of James C. Minimee James C. “Jim” McMinimee, who pioneered accelerated bridge construction techniques in Utah and across the U.S., died suddenly on May 10 in Washington, D.C. He was 51. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, for which he was a contractor, says he died of natural causes, but did not provide further detail. McMinimeeMcMinimee led AASHTO’s effort to implement the latest congressionally-mandated Strategic Highway Research Program, a transportation-sector effort probing highway congestion.For 25 years, he