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Final
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B E N C. G E R W I C K, J R.
1919–2006
Elected in 1973
“For contributions and leadership in the application of engineering technology
to underground, harbor, and ocean construction.”
BY ROBERT B. BITTNER
SUBMITTED BY THE NAE HOME SECRETARY
W ITH THE DEATH OF BEN GERWICK, JR., the nation lost
one of its foremost construction engineers. He died in his home
in Oakland, California, on December 25, 2006, at the age of 87.
He was known worldwide for his pioneering work in prestressed
concrete and his creative innovations in marine construction
and deep foundations.
Ben was born in 1919 in Berkeley, California, the son of a
renowned construction engineer and contractor. He developed
an interest in engineering over the dinner table, listening to his
father tell of his adventures on marine construction projects in
the San Francisco Bay area. Ben received his B.S.C.E. summa cum
laude with the class of 1940 from the University of California,
Berkeley. Upon graduation, his Naval Reserve Training Corps
unit was called into service, more than a year before the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Ben took part in landings
in North Africa and Sicily. Later, as a line officer, he was
commander (the youngest in the U.S. Navy) of the attack cargo
ship Scania. When the war ended, he returned to San Francisco
and joined Ben C. Gerwick, Inc., the heavy marine construction
firm founded by his father in 1926.
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76 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
In the early 1950s, Ben became interested in the potential of
prestressed concrete and converted the company’s precast
concrete manufacturing plant to the new technology of
pretensioning. He pioneered the 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. Ben’s
innovations yielded him six patents and made possible the
successful manufacturing, transport, and installation of
prestessed piles up to 150 feet in length.
In 1952, Ben became president of the firm, which participated
in the establishment of prestressed concrete fabrication plants
in Kuwait and Singapore. Domestically, the company’s projects
included the overwater extension of La Guardia Airport in New
York. The firm also became heavily involved in the design and
construction of deep foundations with prestressed piles and
later 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 to build the
deep foundations for the underground BART stations in
downtown San Francisco and for many high-rise buildings.
Ben was president of the Prestressed Concrete Institute in
1957 and the International Federation of Prestressing from 1974
to 1978. His firm merged with J. H. Pomeroy and then, in 1967,
became part of Santa Fe International. 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 named Ben C. Gerwick, Inc.,
the name of his former construction company. In 1988, this firm
became affiliated with COWI A/S, Consulting Engineers and
Planners, Lyngby, Denmark.
As a contractor, Ben participated in the construction of
precast concrete bridge piers for several major bridges, such as
the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, and the construction of the
concrete North Sea platform, the Ninian Central. As a consultant,
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77
BEN C. GERWICK, JR.
he participated in the development of several major offshore
concrete oil platforms in the North Sea. This work led the use
of prestressed concrete in offshore structures that could resist
sea ice and icebergs in the Arctic and Subarctic. He subsequently
worked on the floating concrete structure Ardjuna Sakti for the
storage of cryogenic gas and the first long-span cantilever
segmental bridge in the United States.
Ben was a consultant on major prestressed concrete bridges
in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, as well as in the United
States. He also advanced the concept of large-diameter steel
tubular piles for major overwater bridges and was construction
consultant on the design and construction of deep cofferdams
for bridge piers. He provided construction engineering for the
marine foundations of more than 26 major bridges
worldwide.
Among Ben’s honors and awards were membership in the
National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy
of Construction. He was an Honorary Member of the Concrete
Societies of Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Norway, and
France, as well as the American Society of Civil Engineers,
American Concrete Institute, and Prestressed Concrete Institute.
He was the recipient of the Freyssinet Medal from the
International Federation of Prestressing (FIP) and the Medal of
Honor from the Prestressed Concrete Institute, as well as 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 American Society of Civil
Engineers. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Kappa
Sigma Fraternity.
Ben also made major contributions to the construction
industry through his work at UC Berkeley, where he initiated
and led the highly successful graduate program in Construction
Engineering and Management from 1971 to 1989. As professor
of civil engineering for 30 years at the UC Berkeley, and in his
many lectures to students and professional groups, he stressed
the importance of a creative and innovative attitude in
addressing engineering and construction challenges.
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78 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
Ben was a highly skilled communicator, and his writings
include more than 200 technical papers, book chapters, and
three technical books that are widely used in the construction
industry, Construction of Prestressed Concrete (John Wiley and
Sons, Inc., 1997), Construction Marketing for Major Project Services
(John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1983), and Construction of Marine
and Offshore Structures, currently in its 3rd edition (Taylor &
Francis, Inc., 2007). In 2005, he completed his fourth book, The
Bridge Beyond (Vantage Press, Inc.), a novelistic autobiography
of a career in engineering.
In 1999, the editors of E ngineering News Record ( ENR)
identified Ben as one of the “125 TOP PEOPLE” whose efforts
in the construction industry singularly and collectively helped
shape this nation and the world. That same year, Ben reflected
on what he considered the most rewarding aspect of his 54-year
career. Rather than the awards and recognition he had received,
or even the major projects in which he had been involved, the
most valuable to him were his many close friendships with
dedicated people who were enthusiastic about getting things
done, people who faced challenges creatively and had the
courage to use their training and technical skills to accomplish
great things. These people, both contractors and engineers,
could be found during the design and construction of major
bridges around the world, working 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 the United States building
locks, dams, and marine terminals. As an added reward, many
of these engineers and contractors had been his students.
“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 was a
brilliant engineer, but he was able to lead and inspire people
because of his human qualities and his sincere interest in them.
Ben was the ethical and professional compass for many
engineers in design and construction. We are fortunate to have
known and worked with him, and we will miss him dearly.
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BEN C. GERWICK, JR.
Ben is survived by his wife, Ellen Chaney Gerwick; his
children, Bill Gerwick, Beverly Brian of St. Joseph, Missouri,
Virginia Wallace of Bainbridge Island, Washington, and Clifford
Gerwick of Indianapolis; seven grandchildren; and four
stepchildren. His first wife, Martelle Beverly Gerwick, died in
1995. Ben and Martelle were married for 54 years.
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