CIANCHETTE

Ival R. “Bud” Cianchette, a founder and former top executive of Pittsfield, Maine-based The Cianbro Cos., one of the state’s largest general contractors, died on Nov. 5 at age 83 in Falmouth, Maine. Cianchette had contracted cancer, according to local reports. Cianchette and three of his brothers, sons of Italian immigrants, founded their company in 1949. Bud Cianchette served as its president, chairman and chairman emeritus from 1962 until his death. Cianbro, which ranks 149 on ENR’s list of The Top 400 Contractors, reported $478 million in 2008 revenue, split among general building, industrial and transportation markets. The firm is one of the few large, non-union firms in the U.S. that is not based in the South; It was the subject of an ENR profile in 1994. Cianchette also was elected national president of the Associated General Contractors in 1980 and was active in horse breeding and racing, serving as a board director of the U.S. Trotting Association from 1994 to 2007.

ONEGLIA

Raymond A. Oneglia Sr., former president and chairman of O&G Industries, a Torrington, Conn.-based building and energy contractor, died on Nov. 2 in Torrington. He was 86 and suffered complications from a stroke, says the firm. Oneglia was the firm’s second generation of family leadership, serving as vice president from 1954 to 1974, president in the 1980s and chairman from 1974 until his retirement in 1999. O&G ranks 72 on ENR’s list of The Top 400 Contractors, reporting $874.4 million in revenue in 2008, with more than half of that in the power construction sector.

Robert W. Beckwith, founder and former CEO of Beckwith Electric Co., a Largo, Fla., engineering and manufacturing firm specializing in power production, transmission and distribution, died on Oct. 25 at age 90 of an undisclosed cause. Beckwith, a Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, founded Beckwith Electric in 1967 after serving as communications manager for General Electric Co. and, earlier, as manager of utility systems for Gulton Industries. From 1949 to 2004, he was awarded more than 30 patents for utility-related research. Beckwith also helped develop transmission lines to supply power to U.S. nuclear weapon manufacturing sites that were built in the 1940s and 1950s as part of the Manhattan Project.