The body of PBSJ Corp. transportation engineer Lee Strickland has been recovered from the remains of Haiti’s Hotel Montana, which collapsed during the January 12, 2010 earthquake.

“It is a strike at the heart,” says Kathe Jackson, PBSJ vice president of corporate communications. “We’re a pretty close-knit company, and Lee touched many of our lives.” 

Strickland, a group manager for the company’s engineering unit, traveled to Haiti to attend a two-day workshop on behalf of the company.

STRICKLAND

International search and rescue teams have worked at the site of the collapsed hotel since soon after the quake. Teams from the United Nations, the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continue deconstruction efforts at the Hotel Montana, and recovery, identification and repatriation of remains are coordinated jointly by the U.S. Departments of State, Defense and Health and Human Services.

According to the State Dept., as of February 19, 103 U.S. citizens are known, reported or presumed to have died in the quake.

Strickland’s family plans to hold a memorial service on March 6, according to the company’s Facebook page.