Structural engineer Vincent J. DeSimone—an innovator with an outsize personality known for his ability to creatively support his architect-clients as they curved, twisted and stretched their building envelopes—died on Nov. 16, just two weeks shy of his 79th birthday.

Denver-based Dick, long an advocate for affordable housing, succumbed to cancer.

In his 1970s design vision for a permanent parliament in Australia’s capital of Canberra, according to an online government history, architect Romaldo “Aldo” Giurgola said the structure could not be built on top of the hilltop site, “as this would symbolize government imposed upon the people.

ENR's long-time editorial leader set high standards for construction journalism and industry ethics.