Civil Engineer

John Jay Pecora, a civil engineer who founded a Mount Vernon-based construction company and was active in his industry's professional circles, died Sunday of complications from cancer and Alzheimer's disease at Stella Maris Hospice. The Roland Park resident was 89. Born in Baltimore and raised on Eldorado Avenue, he was a 1935 graduate of Forest Park High School. He earned a degree in civil engineering from the Johns Hopkins University and taught the subject while serving in the Army during World War II. Soon after his military service, he founded Allied Contractors - naming it for the war's allied forces.

Albert Leroy Schmitz Jr., a civil engineer who rose from being a surveyor to a construction estimator, died of renal failure Dec. 14 at Carroll Hospice Dove House. The former longtime Randallstown resident was 81. Mr. Schmitz was born in Baltimore and raised on Edmondson Avenue. He was a 1944 graduate of Polytechnic Institute and served as an Army Air Forces corporal until being discharged in 1946. Mr. Schmitz, who had studied engineering at the Johns Hopkins University at night, went to work as a surveyor for Piracci Construction Co. Inc. He later took a position with Corman Construction Co., where he specialized in estimating costs for bridge construction.

Benjamin H. West Sr., 94, Western Electric engineerBenjamin Herndon West Sr., a retired Western Electric Corp. efficiency engineer who entertained senior citizens with travelogues and slide shows, died in his sleep Sunday at Edenwald, a retirement community in Towson. He was 94.The former Stoneleigh resident had resided at Edenwald since 1987.He retired in 1970 from Western Electric Corp.'s Point Breeze plant, where he had been an efficiency engineer for 37 years.His travels with his wife to South America, Europe and Asia became the subjects of one-hour slide shows and travelogues that he took to area senior citizen centers and retirement communities.

Carroll Community College will graduate 247 students during commencement exercises at 7: 30 p.m. Wednesday in the physical education learning center at Western Maryland College.Robert R. Furman, a civil engineer and owner of Furman Builders Inc., will be the keynote speaker. He has a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Princeton University.Furman was his company's president from 1946 to 1986. He was executive officer for the construction of the Pentagon and staff officer for the Manhattan District, the organization in charge of developing the atomic bomb in World War II.Ralph Vaughn, president of the Student Government Organization, will give the student greeting.

Carl 'Jack' Schletzer, 87, Army Corps civil engineerCarl "Jack" Schletzer, a retired civil engineer, died Saturday at Catonsville Genesis Eldercare Center of complications after a fall at his Catonsville home. He was 87.Beginning in 1946, Mr. Schletzer worked as a civil engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers, supervising the design of projects such as Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, an air cargo building at Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia and various military facilities.

IF I DIDN'T get paid, I wouldn't work at all," my son announced as he struggled to knot the tie of his uniform for his new job at a local theater.Yes, there's nothing like a few days selling popcorn at $24 a tub to squash the entrepreneurial spirit in a young man."My shoes are sticky. I think I stepped on a gummy bear," he grumbled.Three days into a lifetime of employment and my son had already grasped the basic elements of the new American work ethic: I work; therefore, I whine.Finally conquering the dreaded Windsor knot, he slumped into a chair."

David Brown, 75, welder, church custodianDavid Brown, a church custodian and former steel company welder who sang for U.S. troops as a soldier during World War II, died of heart disease Wednesday at Union Memorial Hospital. The Middle River resident was 75.A 1939 graduate of Carver Vocational-Technical High School, the Baltimore native entered the Army in 1940. While stationed in New Guinea, he often sang for the troops and once performed in a show that included Bob Hope, Groucho Marx and Frances Langford.

Jerome L. Houle Jr.Civil engineerJerome Lawrence Houle Jr., retired vice president of Form Services Inc. in Linthicum, died Thursday of Alzheimer's disease at Chesapeake Manor Nursing Home. The Arnold resident was 74.Mr. Houle worked as a civil engineer and executive from 1968 to when he retired in 1986. He was a concrete specialist.Mr. Houle was born in Chicago and graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1943 with a degree in civil engineering.He served from 1944 to 1945 in World War II as a Navy lieutenant junior grade with the Seabees in the Pacific theater.

George Holt Lamar Jr., 82, civil engineerGeorge Holt Lamar Jr., a former civil engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers, died Wednesday at Franklin Square Hospital of complications from Parkinson's disease. He was 82.A descendant of the Lamar and Stonestreet families of Rockville, Mr. Lamar was the son of George Holt Lamar, a prominent attorney in Rockville and Washington, and Edith Stonestreet Lamar. His father's family had settled in Montgomery County in the second half of the 17th century.

Reuben LeeWestinghouse engineerReuben Lee, a retired engineer for Westinghouse Electric Corp., died March 24 of a respiratory illness at his Catonsville home. He was 92.Mr. Lee, who lived for many years on Bolton Hill, retired in 1965 from the Westinghouse plant at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. He transferred to the Baltimore area in 1938 from a Westinghouse plant in Springfield, Mass.Born in England, he was raised in West Virginia and graduated from West Virginia University.

Robert Gamble James, a retired civil engineer who was a founding partner of a Towson engineering firm, died of a pulmonary hemorrhage April 20 at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center. He was 76 and lived in Bel Air. Mr. James was born and raised in Detroit, where he graduated in 1951 from Mackenzie High School. He earned a civil engineering degree in 1955 from Wayne State University and a master's degree in the discipline from Michigan State University in 1966. After serving in the Army in the late 1950s, he went to work as a civil engineer for the city of Detroit.

George Norman Anderson Jr., a retired civil engineer who was a decorated Army veteran and former prisoner of war, died of congestive heart failure Monday at the Veterans Affairs Rehabilitation and Extended Care Center in Baltimore. The Towson resident was 89. Born in Baltimore and raised on Allendale Road, he was a 1937 graduate of Polytechnic Institute, where he played lacrosse. His family owned and operated boys and girls summer camps in Vermont, where he learned horsemanship, became the riding instructor and gained an interest in polo.

Charles Alvin Diver, a civil engineer and World War II veteran, died of a stroke Jan. 24 at Oak Crest Village retirement community in Parkville. He was 86. Mr. Diver, who was born in Baltimore and raised in the Hamilton neighborhood, graduated from Polytechnic Institute. In 1942, he earned a bachelor's degree in engineering from the Johns Hopkins University. He was commissioned by the Army Corps of Engineers on the day of his graduation, and he served in Algeria, Tunisia, Italy, France and Germany, attaining the rank of major.

Thomas Carbery Jones, a retired civil engineer and history buff, died of stroke complications Dec. 20 at the Gilchrist Hospice Center. The Roland Park Place resident was 88. Born in Baltimore and raised on The Terraces in Mount Washington, he attended the Cathedral School and was a 1937 Calvert Hall College High School graduate. Mr. Jones earned an engineering degree at the Johns Hopkins University. During World War II, he served in the Army Air Forces and was a bombardier on numerous missions over Italy.

Carl-Eric Beve, a retired Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. civil engineer, died of pulmonary disease May 8 at Augsburg Lutheran Village. The former Villa Nova resident was 95. Born in Sundsvall, Sweden, he came to the United States to study civil engineering at Cornell University, where he was a member of the Class of 1938 and the ski team captain. While at school, he met his future wife, Ludmila "Mimi" Koshkin. The couple settled in Baltimore in 1945, when Mr. Beve was hired as the fourth engineer with Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. In his 33-year career, he was involved with work at the Glenn L. Martin aircraft plant in Middle River, the Russell Street Viaduct in downtown Baltimore and the Delaware Memorial Bridge, among other assignments.

John Spence Hayes Chapman Sr., a retired civil engineer who had been a partner in a Baltimore engineering firm, died of cancer April 7 at St. Joseph Medical Center. He was 88. Mr. Chapman was born and raised in a rowhouse in the 2400 block of Maryland Ave. He was a 1937 graduate of Polytechnic Institute and earned his civil engineering degree from the Johns Hopkins University in 1940. He briefly worked at the old Glenn L. Martin Co. plant in Middle River before enlisting in the Army during World War II. He was a battalion commander in the Army Corps of Engineers in the Pacific.

Ronald Anthony Cucina, a retired civil engineer who had worked with the Army Corps of Engineers for 37 years, died of lung cancer Tuesday at his Perry Hall home. He was 66. Mr. Cucina was born and raised in Baltimore. He was a 1960 graduate of City College and earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1965. He began his career with Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District in 1964 and rose to assistant chief of its operating division.

Wesson H. Miller, a retired civil engineer who designed a major Jones Falls Expressway interchange, died of a heart attack Thursday at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. He was 82. Mr. Miller was born in Springfield, Mass., and raised in Baltimore's Hunting Ridge neighborhood. After graduating from Polytechnic Institute in 1944, he was drafted into the Army. He was in training when the war ended and was discharged in 1946. He earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Maryland in 1952, and began his career working in the bridge division of the District of Columbia.

E. Robert Seitz, a retired civil engineer who assisted in the design of Inner Harbor walkways, the Jones Falls and Northwest expressways and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, died Tuesday at the University of Maryland Medical Center of complications from an unsuccessful kidney transplant. The Severna Park resident was 78. Born in Baltimore and raised in Walbrook, he was a 1948 Polytechnic Institute graduate. That year he joined a predecessor to the engineering firm RK&K, Rummel, Klepper & Kahl.

Albert Leroy Schmitz Jr., a civil engineer who rose from being a surveyor to a construction estimator, died of renal failure Dec. 14 at Carroll Hospice Dove House. The former longtime Randallstown resident was 81. Mr. Schmitz was born in Baltimore and raised on Edmondson Avenue. He was a 1944 graduate of Polytechnic Institute and served as an Army Air Forces corporal until being discharged in 1946. Mr. Schmitz, who had studied engineering at the Johns Hopkins University at night, went to work as a surveyor for Piracci Construction Co. Inc. He later took a position with Corman Construction Co., where he specialized in estimating costs for bridge construction.