Courtesy of AFL-CIO McGarvey, BCTD secretary-treasurer since 2005, was Governing Board of Presidents' unanimous choice as new president. Related Links: BCTD announcement of Sean McGarvey's election as president ENR obituary for Mark Ayers The AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Dept. has elected Sean McGarvey, its secretary-treasurer, as its new president. The BCTD said the April 16 vote of its Governing Board of Presidents was unanimous.McGarvey, who is about 50, succeeds Mark Ayers, who died suddenly on April 8 at age 63. Ayers had led the building trades group since 2007. The organization’s board also voted unanimously to give Ayers the
GRAYLois H. Gray, co-founder of what is now Gray Construction Co., a major family-owned industrial design-builder in Lexington, Ky., died on March 19 in that city. She was 91 and suffered from complications of Alzheimer's disease, says the firm. After the death of her husband, James, in 1972, Gray and her sons helped steer the contractor into a lucrative niche working for Japanese and European manufacturers. She was chairwoman from 1972 to 2000. The firm ranks at No. 182 on ENR's list of the Top 400 Contractors. Gray also was a director of the Federal Reserve Bank in St.
SMULLNeil H. Smull, the president emeritus of architect-engineer CSHQA who helped the Boise firm evolve from its one-architect roots into a western U.S. regional player with 85 employees and $8.5 million in revenue, died there on March 18. The firm's last surviving partner, he died of natural causes at age 90, says a spokeswoman. A landscape architect, Smull joined the firm in 1961, lured to Boise from Kansas by co-founder Glen E. Cline. As principal architect, Smull began to incorporate energy-efficient design elements in the 1970s. He retired in 1986. Smull became a Fellow of the American Institute of
Robert V. "Bob" Whitman, who pioneered geotechnical research in soil dynamics and earthquake engineering beginning in the early 1960s, died in Lexington, Mass., on Feb. 25, at age 84. The cause of death was not released by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which he retired as professor emeritus in 1993. WHITMAN"Bob's technical and policy contributions lie at the very foundation of much that is now state of knowledge and state of practice in earthquake engineering," observed James K. Mitchell, a University of California engineering professor emeritus, in a 2009 oral history for the West Coast-based Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.
CREAMERJ. Fletcher "Fletch" Creamer Sr., who grew his father's coal-hauling business, J. Fletcher Creamer & Son, into a road and utility contracting giant in New Jersey and nearby states, died on March 30 at age 85. The Hackensack firm says he died of natural causes. Creamer was president and CEO from 1970 to 2006, when he became chairman. Named to the Utility and Transportation Contractors Association Hall of Fame in 1997, he "always set the benchmark for first-class road and bridge construction," says Phillip Parratt, a former carpenters' union business rep in New Jersey. The firm ranks at No.
ULLICO Inc. Related Links: AFL-CIO statement on Death of Mark Ayers Electrical Workers' Union Shows Muscle In Choice for New Building-Trades Chief Laborers Returning to Trades But Total Harmony Still Elusive Trades Vow To Keep Political Status Quo Mark H. Ayers, president of the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Dept. (BCTD), died suddenly early on April 8 in Washington, D.C., a department spokesman has confirmed. Ayers, who had been in the role since 2007, was 63 years old.No details were released on the cause or circumstances of his death, but according to an industry group official with ties to the
Ivan Viest Ivan M. Viest, an immigrant Slovak engineer who pioneered research in composite construction, earthquake resistance and load and resistance factor design (LRFD) of buildings and bridges, died on Feb. 11 in Bethlehem, Pa. He was 89. The cause of death was not released.Viest's research at the University of Illinois in the 1950s led to acceptance of composite design criteria for steel bridges. Research he then championed for the National Academy of Sciences expanded the knowledge of fatigue and fracture and led to advances in LRFD use.Viest added to his body of work while a manager for Bethlehem Steel
Photo Courtesy of Qatar 2022 The outside of Al-Gharafa Stadium will consist of colored bands representing the flags of all the countries that have qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Photo Courtesy of Qatar 2022 Planned features for Al-Khor Stadium include modular building components and state-of-the-art cooling technology. The wealthy Persian Gulf nation of Qatar is spending at least $4 billion of its oil and other resource riches to build leading-edge, environmentally friendly facilities and infrastructure to host the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament. The program involves building nine new stadiums, upgrading three others and constructing related facilities and
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