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
Stephen M. Levin was a physician, noted construction occupational illness researcher and co-director of the pioneering Irving J. Selikoff Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine at New York City's Mount Sinai School of Medicine. LevinBut as a carpenter's son, he also could communicate with craft workers and warned of on-site health risks they faced after the 9/11 attack and for decades before. Some 32 years of research and advocacy ended on Feb. 7 with Levin's death from cancer in Rockland County, N.Y. He was 70."To be very honest, I think Dr. Levin was the first one to identify or suspect
New York state transportation officials and industry participants are scrambling to meet Gov. Andrew Cuomo's push to have work under way later this year on the $5-billion-plus replacement of the aging Tappan Zee Bridge.
Frederick H. Merrill Jr., executive vice president of specialty contractor Component Assembly Systems Inc. (CAS), Pelham, N.Y., and general manager of its Medford, Mass.-based New England region for 35 years, died on Jan. 18 in New Boston, N.H., of pneumonia, says company CEO H. Lewis Rapaport. Merrill was 67. A major U.S. drywall and acoustical specialty firm, CAS has about 900 employees. "Fred was well known throughout New England and was called upon by many of its developers and construction managers for his insight on how to value-engineer large projects and save dollars," says Rapaport. Senior Vice President Paul Pawlowski
German contractor Bilfinger Berger SE has launched what it says could be one of the first global investment funds to be based on operating revenue from public-private-partnership (P3) infrastructure assets. The fund, made up of assets of 20 of the firm's P3 projects in Canada, Australia, Germany and the U.K., was "oversubscribed" by investors at its mid-December offering, executives say.About 80% of shares in the Bilfinger Berger Global Infrastructure Fund were acquired by investors, the firm said on Dec. 14. The fund is valued at about $322 million, says Bilfinger Berger, which holds the remaining 20%. "It is clear the
New York state transportation agencies have qualified four of five design-build teams that sought places on the short-list to build the estimated $5-billion-plus replacement of the aging Tappan Zee bridge across the Hudson River, north of New York City.
Tom Coble, president of Coble Trench Safety, a Greensboro, N.C.-based firm that supplied trench and traffic safety equipment and training to contractors, municipalities and industrial clients in southeastern and mid-Atlantic states, was killed on Jan. 20 when the plane he was piloting crashed shortly after takeoff in Rainbow City, Ala.Coble, who was 58, founded the now 82-employee firm in 2002. It now has 11 locations. CobleA spokesman for the firm says the cause of the crash “has not been determined yet” and is under investigation. The company says Coble, who was alone and returning to North Carolina, had more than 42
Christopher O. Ward, who left in October as executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, has joined Dragados USA, the New York City-based unit of the Spanish contractor Dragados SA, a Dragados USa official confirms. Ward says he will abstain from the firm's intended bid to the authority on an upgrade of the aging Goethals bridge, according to a published report. Ward joined the agency in 2008, from a previous role as managing director of the General Contractors Association of New York Inc.Cindy Wallis-Lage has been elevated to president of the global water business for
Market Outlook AGC Sees 2012 Funds Up for Education, Down for Highway Construction contractors see a mixed picture for 2012, says a Jan. 23 Associated General Contractors survey of 1,300 members. About 34% of respondents foresee more demand for higher-education-related construction, but 40% say highway funding will fall and 38% say the dollar volume of public-buildings work will decline. Even so, 32% of firms say they plan to add jobs in 2012, and only 9% foresee layoffs. Last year, 37% said they cut payroll. AGC says the number of new positions "are likely to be modest at best." Most firms
