Richard “Dick” N. White, the James A. Friend Family Distinguished Professor of Engineering Emeritus of the School of Civil and Enviromnental Engineering (CEE), died at the age of 75. He was one of Cornell’s most distinguished faculty members for 38 years until his retirement in 1999. Among his numerous appointments and positions at Cornell, he most notably served as Director of the School of CEE (1978-84) and as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs of the College of Engineering (1987-90). He was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1992 and was an Honorary Member of two prominent national civil engineering societies, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the American Concrete Institute (ACI). He was particularly active in the latter and served as its President in 1997-98.

He joined the CEE faculty in 1961 and rapidly developed a versatile research program to complement his teaching of undergraduate and graduate courses. Although his research interests spanned all the traditional areas of structural engineering — experimental. analytical and computer approaches to concrete, steel and timber structures — he held a special love for topics in concrete and for structural model studies. In support of the last, he led the creation and use of a structural models lab for both instruction and research that was one of the finest in the nation. Among his many publications, he was the senior author of a remarkably successful set of textbooks, Structural Engineering, a three-volume series that integrated aspects of mechanics, analysis, behavior, materials and design — and also disseminated widely the essence of the Cornell CEE undergraduate curriculum in structures.

This entry includes Dick’s CV, the statement for the annual university faculty memorial booklet, and a video recording of the memorial gathering held on May 1, 2010.