Ralph R. Peterson, who was set to retire next month as chairman of global project manager CH2M Hill Cos. after building the firm into a $6.5-billion, 25,000-person industry force, died late on Sept. 1 from complications of cancer. He had battled the disease for several years. He was set to turn 65 on Oct. 12. Peterson spent 44 years at CH2M Hill. "I will miss his intellect, his ability to deal with complex issues and his desire to help others succeed," company CEO Lee A. McIntire told employees in an internal email. "He was an industry icon." The former Bechtel

HANSON Daniel J. “Dan” Hanson Sr., former president and CEO of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, Washington, D.C., died on Aug. 8 in that city at age 80. The cause of death was not disclosed. Hanson, who joined ARTBA in 1968 and retired in 1991, was one of its key advocates for federal surface transportation funding legislation. He previously served as deputy director of traffic engineering and operations in the city government and was also the first city traffic engineer in Peoria, Ill. Charles Gwathmey, the noted modernist architect and co-founder and principal of Gwathmey Siegel & Associates

KAMINETZKY Dov Kaminetzky, a pioneer in forensic engineering and founding partner and 30-year president of New York City engineer Feld, Kaminetzky and Cohen (FKC), died on July 17 after a long illness. He was 83. Widely known for his expertise in structural failures, he authored “Design and Construction Failures—Lessons From Forensic Investigations,” published in 1992 by The McGraw-Hill Cos., the parent of ENR. Kaminetzky also was structural engineer on such New York City landmarks as the Guggenheim Museum and the North River water pollution-control plant, both in Manhattan, and an adjunct professor at City University of New York’s graduate engineering

MCNINCH Edwin K. McNinch, a veteran bridge construction engineer and constructibility expert who worked on some of the most technically challenging U.S. spans over a 58-year career, died July 11 in San Mateo, Calif. He was 80. McNinch was president of San Mateo-based EKM Engineering, which he founded in 1987, after a 36-year career with contractor Guy F. Atkinson Co. Projects on which he consulted include the Third Carquinez Strait Bridge in California, Hawaii�s H-3 Viaduct and the I-205 span across Oregon�s Columbia River. �Ed was instrumental in the early adoption and development of prestressed concrete, concrete segmental bridges and

Engineer and professor emeritus Alan G. Davenport, a pioneer in wind engineering for buildings and bridges, died on July 19 at age 76 after a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease. Models for many of the world’s tallest and longest structures ended up in the hands and wind tunnel of Davenport, one of the first to use wind tunnels in the design of structures. An engineering professor at the University of Western Ontario, he founded its renowned Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory in 1965. He consulted on the designs of New York City’s World Trade Center, Chicago’s Sears Tower, Toronto’s CN

ZIMMERMAN Bernard Zimmerman, a co-founder of the architecture department at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, a 35-year faculty member and a leading practitioner in Southern California, died on June 4 in Los Angeles after a long illness. He was 79. Zimmerman, who helped start the department in the early 1970s, was a “vocal critic and demanding instructor to many,” says faculty colleague Kip Dickson. He was president of his own Los Angeles firm, Zimmerman Architects and Planners, and a partner in several other locally based companies. Zimmerman co-founded the Los Angeles Institute of Architecture and Design and helped launch its

KORF Victor W. “Bill” Korf Jr., former national director of transportation at Omaha-based engineering firm HDR Inc. and former deputy secretary of transportation and chief engineer for the Washington Dept. of Transportation, died on June 9 at age 77 of complications due to cancer. Korf joined the agency in 1956 and was involved in construction of the Seattle Evergreen Point floating bridge. He retired in 1985. At HDR, Korf managed offices in Washington, Arizona and California, and worked with the newly independent Polish government in the 1980s on its first privately funded highway project. Arthur C. Erickson, the Vancouver, British

MILLSTONE Isidore E. Millstone, a founder of Millstone-Bangert Inc., a major building and heavy contractor in Saint Louis and a local philanthropist, is presumed dead at 102 after an apparent suicide on May 16. A 1927 engineering graduate of local Washington University, he founded Millstone Construction in 1929. His firm merged with Bangert Construction in 1996. The firm built Busch Stadium, among other local landmarks. He managed projects in Israel in the 1950s.

PAPADAKIS Constantine “Taki” Papadakis, a civil engineer and construction firm manager who served as president of Drexel University in Philadelphia since 1995, died unexpectedly on April 5 at age 63. The university attributes his death to pulmonary complications. Papadakis joined Drexel at a time when its enrollment, physical plant and bottom line had sunk to new depths. During his presidency, the university experienced an academic and financial reinvigoration. Papadakis “famously insisted on measurable goals for his managers,” says the university, adding that he was one of higher education’s longest-serving presidents. Replacing Papadakis as interim president is Charles R. Pennoni, Drexel

Constantine "Taki" Papadakis, the president of Drexel University in Philadelphia and one of a few civil engineers to be running a major academic institution, died unexpectedly April 5 at age 63. According to the university, his death was related to pulmonary complications, although he was in remission from cancer. Photo: Courtesy of Drexel University Constantine "Taki" Papadakis Papadakis, a management veteran of three construction industry firms, joined Drexel in 1995, at a time when its enrollment, physical plant and bottom line had sunk to new depths. But during the 14 years of his presidency the university experienced an academic and