ENR Southeast is pleased to announce the fifth recipient of its annual Legacy Award. Together, the four previous Southeast Legacy Award honorees form a prestigious class of industry heavyweights who have made a difference. These past honorees include Pat Rodgers, president and CEO of Rodgers Builders, Charlotte; Tom Murphy Jr., CEO of Coastal Construction Group, Miami; Bill Pinto, the retired COO and principal with the former Hardin Construction Co., Atlanta; and, the most recent recipient, Miller Gorrie, chairman of Birmingham, Ala.-based general contractor Brasfield & Gorrie.
As ENR notes in our Call for Entries for the annual honorary program, the Legacy Award recognizes those people "who have established a solid 'legacy' of lifetime service to the A/E/C industry and to their colleagues. Movers. Shakers. Mentors. True professionals who have gone above and beyond for decades."
Edward Lobnitz, this year’s Legacy Award winner, certainly lives up to that standard. The “L” of Orlando-based engineering firm TLC Engineering for Architecture—formerly Tilden, Lobnitz, Cooper—the now-retired electrical engineer left a lasting impact on the firm he helped lead, the Florida engineering industry and on the recipients of various charitable missions he’s undertaken. Over the course of his 40-plus-year career, Lobnitz not only established TLC’s engineering department, shortly after joining the firm in 1967, but went on to achieve a leadership role in the field of lightning protection—a notable issue for the state of Florida—and designed systems for both complex buildings and award-winning bridges.
Nominator Cheryl Maze, now a principal with TLC Engineering for Architecture, formerly worked for FIGG, the well-known Tallahassee-based bridge engineering firm. Recalls Maze, “When I was at FIGG, I recall Gene Figg saying that Ed literally wrote the book on lightning protection.” Adding that Lobnitz, and therefore TLC, put this expertise to use on various FIGG bridge projects, Maze’s nomination also stated that, “He had a big hand in helping AHCA (the Agency for Health Care Administration) document their standards for health care across the state. Ed wrote many of the original AHCA guidelines and provided input to the state that is still in use today.”
And though he’s been retired for more than 10 years, Lobnitz remains active with the Central Florida chapter of Engineering Ministries International—a group he founded. “I can’t imagine NOT being a part of their ministry!” Lobnitz told ENR Southeast.
ENR Southeast will provide readers with much more information about Lobnitz in the January 2018 print edition. Additionally, ENR Southeast will honor Mr. Lobnitz at our upcoming Nov. 17 Best Projects Awards luncheon in Orlando.