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1919-2006
Ben C. Gerwick, Jr.
The National Academy of Construction has lost one of its early members with the death of Ben Gerwick, Jr. on December 25, 2006, in his home in Oakland at the age of 87. Family and friends celebrated Ben’s full life at a memorial service in Berkeley on February 3. “He was an engineer’s engineer,” said his son, Bill Gerwick. “Right until the day of his death, he was sharp in his mind and incredibly thoughtful and wise. He had an exceptional kind of wisdom that was sought after by many people.”
Ben, who was a professor emeritus in civil engineering at the University of California-Berkeley, was known worldwide for his pioneering work in prestressed concrete and his creative innovations in marine construction and deep foundations. One of Ben’s major contributions to the construction industry was his role at Berkeley, where he initiated and led the highly successful graduate program in Construction Engineering and Management at UC Berkeley from 1971 to 1989.
In addition to his creative and innovative mind, Ben was a highly skilled communicator. His prolific writings include over 200 technical papers on marine and foundation construction, prestressed concrete, and Arctic construction. He authored chapters on “Marine Concrete” in Handbook of Concrete and Handbook of Ocean and Underwater Engineering, and chapters on “Cofferdams and Caissons” in Handbook of Temporary Structures and Handbook of Heavy Construction. He authored three technical books widely used in the construction industry today: Construction of Prestessed Concrete, Construction Marketing for Major Project Services, and Construction of Marine and Offshore Structures, currently in its third edition. He had just recently completed in 2005 his fourth book, The Bridge Beyond, a novelistic autobiography of a career in engineering.
Ben was born in 1919 in Berkeley, California, the son of a renowned engineer and contractor. He received his BSCE summa cum laude with the class of 1940 from the University of California at Berkeley. Upon graduation, he and his Naval Reserve Training Corps unit were called into service, more than one year before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In the South Pacific, Mediterranean, and Atlantic, Ben served as a line officer, ending up as Commander (the youngest commander in the U.S. Navy) of the attack cargo ship Scania. Following the end of WWII in 1945, his sixth year in the Navy, Ben returned to San Francisco and joined Ben C. Gerwick, Inc., the heavy marine construction firm founded by his father in 1926.
In the early 1950s, he became interested in the potential of prestressed concrete and converted the company’s existing precast concrete manufacturing plant into the new technology of pretensioning. Ben pioneered development of long prestressed concrete piles, which were installed by his firm for deep foundations, bridge piers, and other marine structures. Later the firm developed the deflected-strand process for pretensioned bridge girders, the precast match-casting process for bridge girders, and pretensioned railroad ties.
In 1952, Ben became president of the firm, and the company participated in setting-up prestressed concrete fabrication plants in Kuwait and Singapore, and domestically on projects including the overwater extension of La Guardia Airport, New York. Starting in the 1950s, the firm became heavily involved in the design and construction of deep foundations with the use of prestessed piles. This experience led to the design of shoring systems for deep excavations and the development and patenting of a special slurry wall construction system incorporating soldier beams, known by the acronym “SPTC walls.” This system was used successfully to build the deep foundations for the underground BART stations through downtown San Francisco and many of the deep foundations for high-rise buildings in the city.
Ben was active in the Prestressed Concrete Institute, serving as its president in 1957, and in the International Federation of Prestressing, serving as its president from 1974 to 1978. Ben’s firm first merged with J.H. Pomeroy and then in 1967, the firm became part of Santa Fe International. Ben was given responsibility for international construction. In 1971, he joined the faculty of the University of California-Berkeley as a professor of civil engineering. Concurrently, he set up a specialized consulting engineering practice, continuing the former construction company’s name of Ben C. Gerwick, Inc. In 1988, this firm became affiliated with COWI A/S, Consulting Engineers and Planners, Lyngby, Denmark.
As a contractor, Ben participated in construction of the marine precast concrete bridge piers for such major bridges as the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge, and the construction of the concrete North Sea platform, the Ninian Central. As a consultant, he participated in the development of several subsequent major offshore concrete oil platforms in the North Sea including: Ekofisk, Beryl, and Statfjord. His work on offshore platforms led to extension of prestressed concrete to offshore structures for the Arctic and subarctic to resist sea ice and icebergs. He participated in design and construction of the concrete offshore platforms in the Beaufort Sea (Arctic Ocean); Tarsuit, CIDS, and Amauligak, including conceptual design of iceberg-resistant offshore platform, Hibernia.
His work in the North Sea and Arctic led to his work on the floating concrete structure Ardjuna Sakti for cryogenic gas storage, and of the first long-span cantilever segmental bridge in the United States.
He was a consultant on major prestressed concrete bridges in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, as well as in the United States. He advanced the concept of large-diameter steel tubular piles to major overwater bridges such as the Jamuna River Bridge in Bangladesh, the seismic retrofit of the major bridges in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the Cooper River Bridge in Charleston, South Carolina. He was construction consultant on the design and construction of deep cofferdams for bridge piers such as the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the Bisan Seto Bridge anchorage in Japan. He provided construction engineering for the marine foundations on over 26 major bridges world wide, including; five major bridges in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Great Belt Bridges in Denmark, the King Fahd Bridge connecting Saudi Arabia to Bahrain, the I-205 Columbia River Bridge, the Prince Edward Island Bridge in Eastern Canada, the Tsing Ma Bridge in Hong Kong, the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, Hangzhou Bay Bridge in China, and the Sutong Bridge across the Yangtze.
Among Ben’s honors and awards were membership in the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Construction. He received Honorary Membership in the Concrete Societies of Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Norway, and France as well as Honorary Membership in the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Concrete Institute, and the Prestressed Concrete Institute. He was presented with the Freyssinet Medal from the international Federation of Prestressing (FIP), and the Medal of Honor from the Prestressed Concrete Institute. He was honored with the Golden Beaver Award for Engineering from the heavy construction industry, the Distinguished Service Award from the Deep Foundation Institute, and the Outstanding Projects and Lifetime (OPAL) Award from ASCE.
As professor of civil engineering at the University of California-Berkeley and in his many lectures to students and professional groups, he stressed the inculcation of a creative and innovative attitude in addressing engineering and construction challenges.
In 1999, ENR editors identified Ben as one of the “125 Top People” whose efforts within the construction industry over the last 125 years have singularly and collectively helped shape this nation and the world. Ben reflected on what he considered to be the most rewarding aspect of his successful 54-year career in construction and engineering. it was not the awards and recognition he had received or even the major projects in which he had been involved. The most valuable return were the many close contacts and friendships with people who were dedicated to and enthusiastic about getting something done; people who faced new challenges with creative thinking and the courage to use their training and technical skills to accomplish great things. He found these people, both contractors and engineers, during the design and construction of major bridges around the world; in the North Sea installing massive floating concrete structures; in the Netherlands constructing innovative surge barriers to protect their country; and along the inland waterways of U.S. building locks, dams, and marine terminals. Many of these engineers and contractors had been his students at UC Berkeley.
Ben is survived by his wife, Ellen Chaney Gerwick: children, Bill Gerwick, Beverly Brian of St. Joseph, Mo., Virginia Wallace of Bainbridge Island, Wash., and Clifford Gerwick of Indianapolis; seven grandchildren and four step-children. His first wife, Martelle Beverly Gerwick, died in 1995. Ben and Martelle were married for 54 years.
Ben was a brilliant engineer, but also was able to lead and inspire people because of his human qualities and sincere interest in others. He respected others and encouraged their best efforts while setting a high standard of professional excellence and ethical behavior. Ben was the ethical and professional compass for his company and for many engineers. We all consider ourselves fortunate to have known and worked with Ben. We will miss him dearly and continue to long remember him.
-Robert B. Bittner, 2007
Ben, who was a professor emeritus in civil engineering at the University of California-Berkeley, was known worldwide for his pioneering work in prestressed concrete and his creative innovations in marine construction and deep foundations. One of Ben’s major contributions to the construction industry was his role at Berkeley, where he initiated and led the highly successful graduate program in Construction Engineering and Management at UC Berkeley from 1971 to 1989.
In addition to his creative and innovative mind, Ben was a highly skilled communicator. His prolific writings include over 200 technical papers on marine and foundation construction, prestressed concrete, and Arctic construction. He authored chapters on “Marine Concrete” in Handbook of Concrete and Handbook of Ocean and Underwater Engineering, and chapters on “Cofferdams and Caissons” in Handbook of Temporary Structures and Handbook of Heavy Construction. He authored three technical books widely used in the construction industry today: Construction of Prestessed Concrete, Construction Marketing for Major Project Services, and Construction of Marine and Offshore Structures, currently in its third edition. He had just recently completed in 2005 his fourth book, The Bridge Beyond, a novelistic autobiography of a career in engineering.
Ben was born in 1919 in Berkeley, California, the son of a renowned engineer and contractor. He received his BSCE summa cum laude with the class of 1940 from the University of California at Berkeley. Upon graduation, he and his Naval Reserve Training Corps unit were called into service, more than one year before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In the South Pacific, Mediterranean, and Atlantic, Ben served as a line officer, ending up as Commander (the youngest commander in the U.S. Navy) of the attack cargo ship Scania. Following the end of WWII in 1945, his sixth year in the Navy, Ben returned to San Francisco and joined Ben C. Gerwick, Inc., the heavy marine construction firm founded by his father in 1926.
In the early 1950s, he became interested in the potential of prestressed concrete and converted the company’s existing precast concrete manufacturing plant into the new technology of pretensioning. Ben pioneered development of long prestressed concrete piles, which were installed by his firm for deep foundations, bridge piers, and other marine structures. Later the firm developed the deflected-strand process for pretensioned bridge girders, the precast match-casting process for bridge girders, and pretensioned railroad ties.
In 1952, Ben became president of the firm, and the company participated in setting-up prestressed concrete fabrication plants in Kuwait and Singapore, and domestically on projects including the overwater extension of La Guardia Airport, New York. Starting in the 1950s, the firm became heavily involved in the design and construction of deep foundations with the use of prestessed piles. This experience led to the design of shoring systems for deep excavations and the development and patenting of a special slurry wall construction system incorporating soldier beams, known by the acronym “SPTC walls.” This system was used successfully to build the deep foundations for the underground BART stations through downtown San Francisco and many of the deep foundations for high-rise buildings in the city.
Ben was active in the Prestressed Concrete Institute, serving as its president in 1957, and in the International Federation of Prestressing, serving as its president from 1974 to 1978. Ben’s firm first merged with J.H. Pomeroy and then in 1967, the firm became part of Santa Fe International. Ben was given responsibility for international construction. In 1971, he joined the faculty of the University of California-Berkeley as a professor of civil engineering. Concurrently, he set up a specialized consulting engineering practice, continuing the former construction company’s name of Ben C. Gerwick, Inc. In 1988, this firm became affiliated with COWI A/S, Consulting Engineers and Planners, Lyngby, Denmark.
As a contractor, Ben participated in construction of the marine precast concrete bridge piers for such major bridges as the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge, and the construction of the concrete North Sea platform, the Ninian Central. As a consultant, he participated in the development of several subsequent major offshore concrete oil platforms in the North Sea including: Ekofisk, Beryl, and Statfjord. His work on offshore platforms led to extension of prestressed concrete to offshore structures for the Arctic and subarctic to resist sea ice and icebergs. He participated in design and construction of the concrete offshore platforms in the Beaufort Sea (Arctic Ocean); Tarsuit, CIDS, and Amauligak, including conceptual design of iceberg-resistant offshore platform, Hibernia.
His work in the North Sea and Arctic led to his work on the floating concrete structure Ardjuna Sakti for cryogenic gas storage, and of the first long-span cantilever segmental bridge in the United States.
He was a consultant on major prestressed concrete bridges in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, as well as in the United States. He advanced the concept of large-diameter steel tubular piles to major overwater bridges such as the Jamuna River Bridge in Bangladesh, the seismic retrofit of the major bridges in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the Cooper River Bridge in Charleston, South Carolina. He was construction consultant on the design and construction of deep cofferdams for bridge piers such as the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the Bisan Seto Bridge anchorage in Japan. He provided construction engineering for the marine foundations on over 26 major bridges world wide, including; five major bridges in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Great Belt Bridges in Denmark, the King Fahd Bridge connecting Saudi Arabia to Bahrain, the I-205 Columbia River Bridge, the Prince Edward Island Bridge in Eastern Canada, the Tsing Ma Bridge in Hong Kong, the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, Hangzhou Bay Bridge in China, and the Sutong Bridge across the Yangtze.
Among Ben’s honors and awards were membership in the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Construction. He received Honorary Membership in the Concrete Societies of Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Norway, and France as well as Honorary Membership in the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Concrete Institute, and the Prestressed Concrete Institute. He was presented with the Freyssinet Medal from the international Federation of Prestressing (FIP), and the Medal of Honor from the Prestressed Concrete Institute. He was honored with the Golden Beaver Award for Engineering from the heavy construction industry, the Distinguished Service Award from the Deep Foundation Institute, and the Outstanding Projects and Lifetime (OPAL) Award from ASCE.
As professor of civil engineering at the University of California-Berkeley and in his many lectures to students and professional groups, he stressed the inculcation of a creative and innovative attitude in addressing engineering and construction challenges.
In 1999, ENR editors identified Ben as one of the “125 Top People” whose efforts within the construction industry over the last 125 years have singularly and collectively helped shape this nation and the world. Ben reflected on what he considered to be the most rewarding aspect of his successful 54-year career in construction and engineering. it was not the awards and recognition he had received or even the major projects in which he had been involved. The most valuable return were the many close contacts and friendships with people who were dedicated to and enthusiastic about getting something done; people who faced new challenges with creative thinking and the courage to use their training and technical skills to accomplish great things. He found these people, both contractors and engineers, during the design and construction of major bridges around the world; in the North Sea installing massive floating concrete structures; in the Netherlands constructing innovative surge barriers to protect their country; and along the inland waterways of U.S. building locks, dams, and marine terminals. Many of these engineers and contractors had been his students at UC Berkeley.
Ben is survived by his wife, Ellen Chaney Gerwick: children, Bill Gerwick, Beverly Brian of St. Joseph, Mo., Virginia Wallace of Bainbridge Island, Wash., and Clifford Gerwick of Indianapolis; seven grandchildren and four step-children. His first wife, Martelle Beverly Gerwick, died in 1995. Ben and Martelle were married for 54 years.
Ben was a brilliant engineer, but also was able to lead and inspire people because of his human qualities and sincere interest in others. He respected others and encouraged their best efforts while setting a high standard of professional excellence and ethical behavior. Ben was the ethical and professional compass for his company and for many engineers. We all consider ourselves fortunate to have known and worked with Ben. We will miss him dearly and continue to long remember him.
-Robert B. Bittner, 2007
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