For
Excellence in Research,
Engineering & Standards
Richard D. Gaynor, shown at right, retired as executive
vice president of the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA)
and the National Aggregates Association (NAA) in 1996 after more than 40
years of service with the associations. Dick’s knowledge, experience and
attention to detail on technical issues related to concrete was well
recognized. In 1997, the NRMCA Research, Engineering and Standards (RES)
Committee established the Richard D. Gaynor Award in honor of Mr. Gaynor.
Gaynor Awards recipients are selected
for their lifetime contribution to the ready mixed industry in the
technical field. Nominees can be a former or present member of the NRMCA
Research, Engineering and Standards Committee who has shown dedication
and progressed the Agenda of the Committee. Nominees can also be anyone
in the concrete industry who has made strides to advance engineering and
research issues affecting the industry. Nominees for this award can be
former or present members of the NRMCA RES Committee, other members
involved in NRMCA or other concrete-related technical societies, staff
members and can be active, retired or deceased. The Award will be
presented annually at the prerogative of the NRMCA RES Committee,
typically at the NRMCA Annual Convention. The RES Committee can choose
to select more than one recipient in any year.
The award is in the form of a pyramid,
symbolizing engineering excellence. The inscription reads:
The
Richard D. Gaynor Award
For Personal Dedication, Devotion, and Significant Contributions
To NRMCA’s Research, Engineering, & Standards Program
Nominations for the Richard D. Gaynor
Award will be solicited from the NRMCA Research, Engineering and
Standards Committee or from any member of the industry. The nominating
committee is composed of past recipients of the Gaynor award who will
review the nominees and provide their recommendation to the RES
Committee for a vote of the committee.
For more information or to submit
nominations, please contact
Colin Lobo,
NRMCA senior vice president of engineering, at
1-888-846-7622 x1160 or 240-485-1160.
2018
Gaynor Award Recipient
Gene Daniel
Consulting Engineer
Gene Daniel is a long-time veteran in the concrete industry. He has most recently been in private practice as an engineer and consultant to the industry. Gene is famous for being a strong advocate for the small concrete producer. His participation in standards committees has always been directed to ensuring the right thing is done, good practice is promulgated, and things are kept simple to ensure that the job can get done.
Gene has been a principal in a firm that was involved in a wide range of design and construction activity; owner of a drilled shaft foundation construction company; has had a leadership role in a construction materials testing company for several years; and served as an expert witness for attorneys in construction litigation. In 1988 Gene joined Beaver Lake Concrete, a regional ready-mixed concrete company in NW Arkansas and SW Missouri that included 8 concrete plants and 2 sand and gravel pits. He worked his way through roles in operations, safety, technical services, and ultimately as President until he retired in 1997.
During his tenure at Beaver Lake Concrete, Gene was an active member of the NRMCA Research Engineering and Standards Committee. He served as the chair of the task group on plant certification. He has served on the NRMCA Board of Directors. Gene fondly remembers working on and butting heads with Dick Gaynor on several initiatives.
Gene has been an active member of ASTM International for 55 years primarily on subcommittees responsible for standards on ready mixed concrete, cement, aggregates, fresh concrete testing, and laboratory quality systems. He was made an Honorary Member of Committee C09 on Concrete and Aggregates in 2009. Gene’s participation in the American Concrete Institute spans 58 years with participation on committees on proportioning concrete, hot and cold weather concreting, residential concrete, parking lots, and the structural concrete specifications. He became a Fellow of ACI in 1998. In 2011, Gene was named as an Industry Influencer by the Concrete Producer magazine for his lifetime contributions and continued advocacy for the small producer.
Gene is a co-author of ASTM Manual 49, User’s Guide to ASTM Specification C94 on Ready-Mixed Concrete. He has authored the NRMCA Plant Inspector’s Guide that is used as the basis to approve inspectors for the NRMCA Plant Certification Program. In developing this guide, he visited a wide range of concrete plants in 43 states to better understand the variations in concrete production and standard practice. He is an approved inspector for the program and has inspected several plants for certification. He has been a key contributor to the development of the NRMCA Quality Certification program and served for a while as a third-party auditor for the program.
Gene Daniel has a Bachelors in Architectural Engineering from Oklahoma State University, a MS in Civil Engineering from the University of Arkansas and completed continuing education on Geologic Studies more recently. He is a registered professional engineer in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. Gene lives in Claremore, OK, close to his children, grandchildren, and recently a great granddaughter. Unfortunately, his wife of almost 62 years Wilma passed away in 2017. Gene assures us that she would be proud that he is being recognized with this NRMCA award for his lifetime contributions to the ready mixed concrete industry.
Thomas
H. Adams is the Executive Director of the American Coal Ash Association.
Tom has over 35 years of experience in the ready mixed concrete industry
serving in a variety of management positions in sales, marketing,
technical services, and operations. He has held leadership roles with
Michigan Concrete Association, American Concrete Institute, American
Shotcrete Association, and currently at the American Coal Ash
Association.
Tom began his career in the industry in a sales/technical service
position with Ernst Concrete & Supply Company in Warren, MI in 1978.
Stanley Ernst, Jr., encouraged Tom’s participation with the Michigan
Ready Mixed Concrete Association and the NRMCA. Tom joined the NRMCA
Research, Engineering and Standards (RES) Committee in 1980. He has
since been an active member of the Committee in developing and
supporting its various initiatives with the Concrete in Practice series,
research and certification programs. He is a past chairman of the RES
Committee.
Tom has served as the chair of the Promotion and Technical Committees of
the Michigan Ready Mixed Concrete Association and the Chairman of the
Board. In 1993 he joined the staff of the MRMCA as its president and
worked to forge closer ties to the NRMCA. He initiated discussions with
Dick Gaynor and NRMCA staff on the need to educate concrete salesmen. He
worked with a small group to support the eventual development of the
NRMCA Certified Concrete Sales Professional program. Tom has served on
the NRMCA Board of Directors. He has presented numerous NRMCA events and
webinars.
At the American Concrete Institute. Tom supported the local chapter
activities. He moved on to become the executive director of the American
Shotcrete Association, supporting the advancement of knowledge and use
of shotcrete for various applications.
Tom accepted the position of executive director of the American Coal Ash
Association (ACAA) in December 2008. This coincided with the massive
coal ash spill at a power plant in Kingston, TN. This changed the focus
of the ACAA and for the next several years he had to address technical,
environmental, and general public concerns on the beneficial use of fly
ash. He worked diligently with stakeholders to prevent the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency from promulgating regulations which
would classify fly ash and other coal combustion products as hazardous
wastes. These regulations would have eliminated fly ash as a
concrete-making material.
Tom continues to be active with the American Concrete Institute, ASTM
International, the Electric Power Research Institute and works fly ash
specifiers and users to communicate on the issues related to fly ash
quality and supply resulting from the fast-changing energy industry and
regulatory environment. Tom attended Wayne State University in Detroit,
MI and Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI studying business
administration and strategic management. In his spare time, he enjoys
reading, politics, and golf.
2016
Gaynor Award Recipient
Dr. Kenneth C. Hover
Professor, Cornell University
Dr.
Ken Hover is Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Cornell
University. Previously he served as a Captain in the U.S. Army Combat
Engineers. His work experience includes Project Manager for Dugan and
Meyers Construction Co. in Cincinnati, working on buildings, interstate
bridges, and water treatment plants, and a Partner and Manager with THP
Structural Engineers in Cincinnati engaged in the design and repair of
buildings and industrial facilities. He holds Bachelors and Masters
Degrees in Civil Engineering from University of Cincinnati, and a Ph.D.
in Structural Engineering from Cornell University, the latter supported
by an Exxon Fellowship. He is a licensed engineer in Ohio and New York.
Dr. Hover teaches reinforced and prestressed concrete design, concrete
materials and construction management. He has received several awards as
an educator. He has been a primary instructor in the National Highway
Institute course for state highway agency personnel. His research has
focused on freeze-thaw durability, optimizing concrete mixtures, fresh
concrete testing and impact of construction operations and environment
on concrete in-place quality. His research has always had a practical
focus and has benefited the ready mixed concrete industry. He has worked
closely with Dick Gaynor on various initiatives from pumping concrete to
Code requirements for concrete materials. His research has generated
more than 300 papers and reports. He has served as a consultant on more
than 120 high-profile projects in the US and abroad.
Dr. Hover is a very accomplished speaker and presenter and has a flair
for using unique props, examples, and humor to facilitate the
understanding of complex concepts. He has delivered several
presentations at NRMCA technical conferences and at industry seminars.
He is the recipient of numerous awards from ACI, ASCE, ACPA and other
local organizations. He is the past president of the American Concrete
Institute and an active member of committees on specifications, hot and
cold weather concreting and the Building Code for structural concrete.
Dr. Hover has been a strong believer on performance-based
specifications. He was the lead co-author on two of the first documents
on performance based specifications in support of the NRMCA P2P
Initiative. He supports the initiative through his ACI activities.
Ken enjoys reading (especially history, with a focus on the Battle of
Gettysburg), and international languages (especially Spanish). He is a
certified Lay Speaker in the United Methodist Church, and is a frequent
substitute preacher in many churches in Upstate New York. Ken and his
wife Deb live in Ithaca, New York.
2015 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Dr. Nicholas J. Carino
Concrete Technology Consultant
Dr. Carino is a concrete technology consultant based in Cleveland and an affiliated consultant with Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. Dr. Carino graduated with a BS, MS and PhD from Cornell University. He was an assistant professor at The University of Texas at Austin from 1974 to 1979. He retired from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2004, where he held the position of research structural engineer since 1979. He is an active participant in standards organizations and a strong proponent of performance-based requirements for concrete.
Dr. Carino is a world-renowned expert on non-destructive testing of concrete, primarily on the maturity method and other methods to evaluate the in-place strength of concrete and the impact-echo for detection of flaws. Dr. Carino was involved in various NIST structural investigations, including a safety assessment of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, determining the causes of failures and progressive collapse in buildings and transportation structures, and damage assessments following the Loma Prieta and Northridge earthquakes. He was a member of the NIST team that investigated the collapse of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 and was the principal author of the team’s report on fire-resistive materials. He received several awards and recognitions from NIST for his contributions during his 25-year career.
He has been a leader in standards development by various technical committees in ACI, ASTM and other groups. At ACI, he is a four-time recipient of the Wason Medal for Materials Research, and has received the following awards for his technical contributions to the industry: Delmar L. Bloem Award, Robert E. Philleo Award, Arthur R. Anderson Award and the ACI Construction Award. At ASTM, he has received the Award of Merit, Robert J. Painter Memorial Award, Frank E. Richart Award, Walter C. Voss Award, and the Katharine and Bryant Mather Award. Dr. Carino is an Honorary Member of ACI, a Fellow of ASTM and a Life Member of ASCE.
Dr. Carino has written many research papers and is a principal author of the Handbook on Nondestructive Testing of Concrete. Dr. Carino worked closely with Dick Gaynor to establish appropriate requirements for specifying and testing high-strength concrete. He was the lead author for ACI Innovation Task Group 8, which published a report on performance specifications. Nick continues to be an active member of several ACI and ASTM Committees including ACI 318 on building code requirements and ACI 301 on specifications for structural concrete. His attention to detail is legendary and has resulted in significant improvements to new and existing standards that are vital to the ready mixed concrete industry.
While Dr. Carino still remains professionally active in retirement as a consultant and educator, his hobbies include rugby (now only as a retired observer of the game), biking, and relaxing at his cabin on Lake Huron in Michigan.
2014 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Gary Mullings
Senior Vice President
Operations & Compliance NRMCA
Gary
Mullings is the senior vice president of operations and compliance at the
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association. He manages the activities of the
NRMCA Operations Environmental and Safety (OES) Committee. In this role he
administers educational programs, awards programs and develops guidance on
regulatory compliance for the industry. He advocates for the industry on
regulations governing plants, trucks, safety and environmental management
practices.
Gary is celebrating his 40th year at NRMCA. He spent a large portion of his
early career at NRMCA at its Research Laboratory in College Park, Maryland.
About 15 years ago, Gary took on the leadership of the operations and
compliance department. He has been involved in many of the lab and field
research programs at NRMCA including the use of returned concrete and wash
water, durability tests, effects of pumping on concrete, strength testing,
flowable fill and other pioneering research work. He is a co-author on
several papers resulting from this work. He has authored several NRMCA
publications on concrete technology and on operations, safety and
environmental management practices. He has made contributions to industry
standards on testing and use of concrete.
Gary is primary instructor in the NRMCA technical short course, plant
manager course, environmental course, safety course and delivers a wide
range of webinars on current issues impacting the industry. He administers
the popular annual NRMCA Mixer Driver Championship and manages the fleet
benchmarking survey, safety award, environmental excellence award and the
fleet graphics award. Gary manages the NRMCA Green-Star Plant Certification
program.
Throughout his career, Gary’s priority has been to ensure that NRMCA members
and its customers get the service they desire in a timely manner. Gary is
also the recipient of the Joseph E. Carpenter Award awarded by the OES
Committee.
Gary Mullings and his wife Linda live in Silver Spring, Maryland. He has two
married daughters and one granddaughter. His hobbies include golf, arrowhead
hunting and tracking the genealogy of his family.
2013 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Kenneth B. Rear
Retired Vice President Research, Heidelberg Technology Center
Kenneth
B. Rear retired from the cement and concrete industries in 2007 after a
career spanning 40 years. Mr. Rear holds a Civil Engineering Technology
Certificate from the BC Institute of Technology in Burnaby, British
Columbia.
Kenneth B. Rear served as vice president of research and support from 2000
to 2007 at the Heidelberg Technology Center, that offers research and
engineering support to the Lehigh Cement Company. Prior to that Mr. Rear
worked as a technical service manager from 1980 at Grace Construction
Products in Vancouver, British Columbia and Cambridge Massachusetts He
started his career in the industry in 1973 as a quality control manager in
the ready mixed concrete, pipe and block industries with Ocean Construction
Supplies in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Mr. Rear has been an active member of ASTM International and the American
Concrete Institute (ACI). In his participation at ACI and the ACI Strategic
Development Council, he has led the effort to promote the recognition of
performance based specifications for concrete. Through his efforts, this has
been recognized as an important initiative that will foster innovation and
the advancement of concrete technology. Mr. Rear served as the chair of
ACI’s Innovative Task Group (ITG) 8 that developed a comprehensive report on
performance-based specifications in 2 years. His persistence resulted in the
formation of a new ACI technical committee – ACI 329 – that is working on
identifying and resolving barriers to performance in industry standards.
Mr. Rear has served on the NRMCA Research Engineering and Standard (RES)
Committee and has been an active participant in its activities. He willingly
accepted the co-chair of the P2P Steering Committee in 2002 and directed the
activities of the P2P Initiative. P2P is an acronym for Prescription to
Performance. He emphasized partnership of producers with contractors and
working with the American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC) and
facilitated the understanding of performance-based business practices in
Canada and other locations in the US. The P2P Initiative has gained broad
recognition and is continuing to evolve in the consensus standards process
at ACI and ASTM.
Mr. Rear and his wife Sheila spend their retirement between Maine with
grandchildren and Florida working on his fishing skills. They also love
traveling.
2012 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Colin Lobo
NRMCA Senior Vice President of Engineering
Colin
L. Lobo is Senior Vice President of the Engineering Division of the National
Ready Mixed Concrete Association in Silver Spring, Maryland. Besides
managing the Engineering Division, his responsibilities include managing
programs of NRMCA Research, Engineering and Standards Committee and the
NRMCA P2P Steering Committee, coordinate and report on some of the
Association’s research studies, provide information to the membership and
others, coordinate and administer NRMCA technical training programs, and
develop NRMCA technical publications. Colin manages the NRMCA certification
programs for Ready Mixed Concrete Production Facilities, Concrete
Technologists and Pervious Concrete Contractors
Colin has been with NRMCA since 1991.
Colin holds a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Civil Engineering from
Mysore University in India. He received a Masters of Science Degree from
Northeastern University in Boston and a Ph.D. from Purdue University in West
Lafayette, Indiana. He has published several papers as a result of his
research work at Purdue and NRMCA.
Colin is an active member on various committees of the American Society for
Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the American Concrete Institute (ACI). He
is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and
participates in the technical committee work of the Transportation Research
Board (TRB). Colin has been a member of technical task groups and research
panels of AASHTO and FHWA. He is a registered professional engineer in the
State of Maryland.
On ACI, Colin is a member of ACI Committees 318 (Building Code), 301
(Specifications), 214 (strength testing), 211 (mixture proportioning), and
educational committee E701 on concrete materials. He serves as the recording
secretary of ACI 301. He is a Fellow of the ACI.
On ASTM, Colin is a member of ASTM Subcommittees 09.94 data analysis, 09.96
(CCRL), 09.40 (ready mixed concrete), 09.60 (fresh concrete tests), 09.61
(strength testing), 01.10 (cement specifications) and many others. He serves
as recording secretary for 09.60 and 09.40.
He serves as NRMCA’s representative on the FHWA Concrete Pavement Technology
Program Engineering ETG (Task 65), Performance Specifications ETG, Mixture
Optimization ETG, PCA’s Product Standards and Technology Subcommittee and
other technical committees as pertinent to the goals of the NRMCA.
Colin has coordinated and reported on research activities at NRMCA related
to measurement of water content in fresh concrete, use of wash water in
ready mixed concrete, effects of reuse of returned concrete on concrete
properties, testing high strength concrete and cores, alkali silica
reactivity tests, reuse of returned concrete, maturity of high volume fly
ash concrete, concrete durability research and several smaller research
projects.
2011 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Ken Day
Retired, Concrete Advice, Pty. Ltd., Melbourne, Australia
Ken Day is a world renowned expert on concrete quality control. He fashions
himself as an evangelistic concrete technologist willing to preach to anyone
willing to listen. Ken’s expertise has been on concrete mix design, quality
control and specifications. He has worked in the ready mixed concrete and
precast industries. He has also worked as a consulting structural engineer,
a university lecturer, and a general investigator and legal expert witness
of defective concrete.
Ken Day is a pioneer in developing computerized mix design methodology and
statistical quality control of concrete. He has used aggregate specific
surface concepts in his mix design process to achieve workable concrete
mixtures for different placement methods. He has developed multigrade,
multivariable cusum (cumulative sum) methodology for quality control by
which the various measured properties of concrete can be evaluated to
identify the potential for failures before they occur. These concepts were
used to develop the ConAd software that is now incorporated in software
provided by a major company providing services to the concrete industry. His
concepts have been used on several international high profile projects, but
one that he is proudest of is when it was used by his younger son, John, to
control concrete production for Petronas Towers, at that time the world’s
tallest building, and a standard deviation of 450 psi was attained on the
last 200 results of concrete strengths averaging over 14,000 psi.
Since the mid 1950s, Ken Day has authored numerous papers and presented at
various international conferences across the globe in on a wide range of
topics on concrete technology, most of which are posted on his website
www.kenday.id.au. He is also author of the internationally acclaimed book -
Concrete Mix Design, Quality Control and Specification, now in its 3rd
edition.
Ken Day has been a strong proponent of the evolution towards
performance-based specifications for concrete and was personally responsible
for bringing about the current system of specification on this basis in
Australia 30 years ago. In more recent years he has been very supportive of
the NRMCA P2P Initiative and has written and spoken at many venues in
support of his contention that performance specifications, passing control
of mix design and quality control to the concrete producer, are essential
for the achievement of low variability and optimum performance.
Ken Day graduated from Manchester University in the UK in 1952. He is an
Honorary Member of the Concrete Institute of Australia; Fellow of the
Institute of Engineers, Australia; Fellow of the Institute of Concrete
Technologists, U.K.; Fellow of the American Concrete Institute and received
a lifetime achievement award from CANMET/ACI.
At age 80, having nominally retired ten years ago, he is still determined to
bring about P2P in USA and to complete a final 4th edition of his book.
2011 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Edwin R. Dunstan
ERD Consultants, LLC
Edwin R. Dunstan Jr. is currently “semi-retired” and continues to remain
active in the concrete industry as a Concrete Materials Consultant and as a
Concrete Materials Instructor and Examiner for Construction Materials
Engineering Council (CMEC) in Orlando, Florida.
Mr. Dunstan has worked as a concrete materials engineer for 38 years. From
1972-1980 he was a Quality Control and Research Engineer for the U.S. Bureau
of Reclamation in Denver Colorado. From 1980-1988, he worked as an
independent Concrete Materials Consultant and Educator in Colorado. He
joined Florida Mining and Materials in 1988 as a Concrete Materials-Quality
Control Engineer and remained with the company through acquisitions by
Southdown and Cemex. He retired from Cemex in August 2008 as Director of
Technical Services, Ready Mix.
Mr. Dunstan has devoted considerable effort during his career towards
identifying factors that impact the quality and performance of concrete
towards optimizing concrete for performance and cost. He has been involved
in research and practical use of fly ash in concrete. Mr. Dunstan is the
author of numerous papers about concrete strength modeling, durability of
fly ash concrete and other topics. He is the author and instructor for
Online Training courses for Concrete Basics and Optimizing Concrete
Mixtures. He has published about 30 technical papers. He holds a patent on a
fly ash cement made using no portland cement.
Since 1978, Mr. Dunstan has been an active member of several ASTM Committees
on cement, concrete, building performance and non destructive testing. He
has served on the ASTM Committee C09 executive committee and was vice chair
of the Committee. He was named an Honorary Member of Committee C09 in 2008.
Mr. Dunstan has over 20 years of service with the CMEC in Florida. He has
served as CMEC chairman and continues to support CMEC activities on
laboratory accreditation, education, and certification of personnel. He is a
CMEC instructor and examiner for ACI certification programs, NRMCA Level II
certification, PCI Level 1 & II. Q/C. technician certification and the
Florida ready mix batch plant operator certification.
Mr. Dunstan has served on the NRMCA Research Engineering and Standard (RES)
Committee for more than 20 years and indicates that this participation has
been his favorite and most enjoyable. He has contributed to several
initiatives of the Committee and served one term as the chairman. He has
also been active participant on the activities and projects of P2P steering
committee. He indicates he met Dick Gaynor at ASTM in 1978 and has valued
that relationship.
Mr. Dunstan holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Engineering from
Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas. He is a registered Professional
Engineer in Colorado and Florida. Mr. Dunstan lives in Brooksville, Florida,
with his wife of 41 years, Cle. they have one son. Ed enjoys writing and
teaching concrete technology. His hobbies include family genealogy and
traveling.
2010 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Lawrence R. Roberts
Roberts Consulting Group, LLC
Larry Roberts is the manager of the Roberts Consulting Group, LLC in Acton
Massachusetts. Prior to starting his independent consulting career, Larry
was a principal scientist from 2006 to 2008 with CTLGroup in Skokie,
Illinois. He is most likely recognized in the industry for his tenure of 38
years at Grace Construction Products from where he retired in 2006. During
his time at Grace, Larry served in a variety of technical functions
including Key Accounts Technical Manager, Director of Technical Services,
Director of Technology Planning and Transfer, and Technical Fellow. During
his time in research Larry was involved with development of grinding aids
and masonry cement additives for the cement industry, and air entrainers,
water reducers, accelerators, superplasticizers and microsilica additives
for concrete. A special interest of his has been the application of simple
calorimetric techniques for understanding the interaction of cements and
supplementary cementitious materials with admixtures, and the pro-active
application of these techniques to problem prevention.
Larry is the author of numerous papers and chapters about cement and
concrete, in the areas of concrete testing, superplasticizers, automated air
void analysis of hardened concrete, cement-admixture interactions, high
strength concrete, microsilica, resource recovery, and corrosion protection
of concrete. He holds patents in novel fly ash concretes, artificial
aggregates, cement mill control techniques, and superplasticizers for
concrete.
Larry is a member of several ASTM Committees on cement and concrete. He is
an active participant and contributor to standards development on Hydraulic
Cement, Chemical Admixtures, Sulfate Content in cements, Ready Mixed
Concrete, and Properties of Fresh Concrete subcommittees. He is a recipient
of the Katharine and Bryant Mather Member Contribution Award and the ASTM
Award of Merit. Larry has been involved in the International Cement
Microscopy Association and on ACI Committees on Hydraulic Cement, Chemical
Admixtures and Curing. He has also been active on the ACI Strategic
Development Council.
Larry has been a long time member of the NRMCA Research Engineering and
Standards Committee, during which time he enjoyed tremendously working with
Dick Gaynor, and of the P2P Steering Committee. He has made significant
contributions on developing technical publications, advising on industry
research and providing strategic direction on the move to performance
specifications for concrete.
Larry holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Massachusetts in
Amherst, Massachusetts, and a Master's degree from Northeastern University
in Boston, both in Chemistry.
Larry lives in Acton, Massachusetts with his wife of 41years, Christa. They
have two children, John and Mark, and four grandchildren. Larry’s hobbies
include military history, model railroading and photography. He is an
accomplished cook and is a connoisseur of fine food and wines.
2009 Gaynor Award
Recipient
James Cook
Tarmac Titan America
Jim Cook retired in 2008 as Director of Technical Services for Florida from
Tarmac, Titan America, LLC. He has more than 50 years experience in
ready-mix and concrete materials. He started in the industry as a truck
dispatcher with Hardaway Concrete in Columbia, SC in 1958. Twenty-five years
of his career was with Gifford-Hill & Company in Dallas, Texas, most
recently as Vice President of Technical Services. He joined Tarmac in 1994.
Jim is a Fellow of ACI and has been a member for more than 40 years. He is
former Chair of ACI 363, High Strength Concrete, and of ACI 214, Evaluation
of Strength Test Results. During his tenure as Chair, ACI 214 produced a
complete revision of “Evaluation of Strength Test Results of Concrete” (ACI
214R-02) and a new committee report, “Guide for Obtaining Cores and
Interpreting Compressive Strength Results” (ACI 214.4R-03). He also serves
on ACI 211, Mixture Proportioning and ACI 232, Fly Ash and Natural Pozzolan.
Jim has published work and delivered presentations on the use of fly ash and
mechanical properties of high strength concrete. Some of his work has
resulted in revisions to acceptance criteria for high strength concrete in
the Building Code, ACI 318.
Cook has been a long-time member of the RES Committee and made several
contributions towards the Committee’s work.
Cook received ACI’s Roger H. Corbetta Concrete Constructor Award in 1995 in
recognition of his outstanding contributions to the advancement of concrete
as a construction material. He has received the Delmar Bloem award from ACI
for his tenures as Committee chairman. He was inducted into the Engineering
Hall of Achievement at the University of Texas at Arlington in 1985, in
recognition of his significant contribution made to the engineering
profession.
Cook lives in Jacksonville, Florida with his wife Cecelia. They will
celebrate their 50-year anniversary in June. Special recognition is due to
Cecelia for the support to the family while Jim pursued his career. They
have three children, sons Noel (deceased), Mark and daughter Stephanie
Spivey. Cook’s hobbies include boating, golf and showing off his 1950 V-8
Pilot restored car at British Car Shows. Cook serves on the Board of
Directors of the Jacksonville Area Golf Association.
2008 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Ward Malisch
ASCC
Ward Malisch retired in 2007 as Senior Managing Director
at the American Concrete Institute and is currently in a part-time role as
the Technical Director of the American Society of Concrete Contractors
(ASCC). He retains a role with ACI as publisher of the ACI’s Concrete
International magazine. Ward has served as Editor-in-Chief of Concrete
Construction magazine, Director of the World of Concrete seminar program and
Director of Construction Information Services for the Portland Cement
Association. He has a BS, MS and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in
Champaign-Urbana. He’s a registered professional engineer and has also
managed a materials testing laboratory, made structural quality control
inspections during construction of a nuclear power plant, and taught
materials engineering at several universities.
Ward Malisch is a proficient writer and editor with a special interest in
educating concrete contractors. He has given many presentations and authored
more than 50 papers and articles on concrete materials and construction. His
main interests have been floor and slab construction and behavior,
construction tolerances, and specification issues. He is the person behind
the ASCC Hotline who responds to contractor’s questions. He has been a
periodic and involved participant on the NRMCA’s Research Engineering and
Standards Committee and has contributed his editorial expertise and
knowledge with the Concrete in Practice Series and other NRMCA technical
publications. He plans to continue his activity with the NRMCA by providing
a contractor’s perspective in the P2P Initiative.
Early in his career, Ward received a Young Engineer of the Year Award from
the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers, and six Outstanding Teacher
Awards while on the civil engineering staff at the University of
Missouri-Rolla. In 2004 he received the Arthur Y. Moy Award for Outstanding
Service in the Field of Concrete Technology from the Greater Michigan
Chapter of ACI. In 2006 he was recognized by the Construction Writers
Association with the Silver Hard Hat award for Service to the Construction
Industry—their highest honor. Ward is also a Fellow of the American Concrete
Institute.
Ward and his wife Barb
live in the Detroit area with Charlie, their pet Shih Tzu. Besides endlessly
playing fetch the ball with Charlie, Ward’s hobbies include cooking; reading
nonfiction, especially history and biographies; and skiing at least once
every three years.
2007 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Anthony E. Fiorato
CTL Group
Anthony (Tony) Fiorato joined the Construction Technology Laboratories (now
CTLGroup) as a Structural Engineer in 1973 advancing up to the position of
Vice President, Materials Technology. In 1989 Tony moved over to the
Portland Cement Association and ultimately headed up the Research and
Technical Services Department. In 1999 Tony assumed the position of
President and CEO of the CTLGroup. Tony received his B.Sc. in Civil
Engineering from Drexel University and his MS and Ph.D. from the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received a distinguished alumni award
from UI in 2004. He is a licensed structural engineer in Illinois and
maintains professional engineer’s licenses in the states of Arizona,
Michigan and Ohio.
Tony’s professional and research experience includes complex structural
analysis and design, heat transfer and thermal performance of building
assemblies, seismic design, use of concrete in arctic environments and
various initiatives on specifications, testing and properties of high
strength, normal, and lightweight concretes. He has authored more than 50
papers on his research and technical interests.
As the Vice President of the Research and Technical Services department of
the PCA, Tony managed the research and standardization activities of the
Product Standards and Technology Committee. He has ensured close
communication between the PS&T committee and the NRMCA Research Engineering
and Standards Committee by his active participation and sharing of
information on research, technical information and initiatives by both
groups. This close networking has enabled the cement and the ready mixed
concrete industries to better understand each other’s needs and challenges,
and meet their goals more effectively.
Tony has served in various leadership positions. He was the President of ACI
in 2004 and the Chairman of the Board of ASTM International in 2006. He has
chaired several technical committees within these organizations ensuring
fair discourse and deliberation of the technical issues. Tony has been
recognized with receiving the prestigious ACI Henry L. Kennedy award and
Henry C. Turner medal and the A.J. Boase Award of the Reinforced Concrete
Research Council.
Tony and his wife Cathy live in the Chicago area Tony has announced his
retirement as President of CTL Group in June, but he will continue to work
with the firm and will serve as Chairman of the Board.
2006 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Jon Mullarky
Consultant, FHWA
Jon Mullarky joined the staff of NRMCA and the National Sand and Gravel
Association in 1971, following his discharge from active duty in the United
States Navy. Early accomplishments in his career with the Associations’
Engineering Divisions included work on the famous NRMCA Truck Mixer Studies,
and Jon co-authored several of the Study reports with Richard Gaynor. Jon
also assisted Mr. Gaynor in the conceptual design and construction of the
Joint Research Laboratory Building, located in College Park, MD.
In 1974 Jon transitioned to NRMCA’s fledgling marketing program. His
visionary leadership resulted in stronger ties with the Portland Cement
Association and State Associations. He also established innovative programs
to promote concrete parking lot paving, flowable fill and the environmental
advantages of concrete construction. Jon helped to found the Ready Mixed
Concrete Technology Program at Middle Tennessee State, and the Ready Mixed
Concrete 2000 movement.
When Dick Gaynor retired, Jon became NRMCA’s Vice President of Engineering
at which point he was the staff liaison to the NRMCA Research Engineering
and Standards Committee. He was instrumental in obtaining AASHTO
Accreditation for the Joint Research Laboratory, and initiated a long-term
field study of the properties of flowable fill.
Jon left the NRMCA staff in 1997 to join a consulting firm providing
contract services to the Federal Highway Administration. He is currently the
Senior Project Engineer for FHWA’s Mobile Concrete Laboratory and a
consultant to FHWA’s Office of Pavement Technology.
Throughout his career Jon has worked on technical and educational committees
of ACI and ASTM. He is currently serving on the ACI Board of Directors, and
received the Institutes Henry L. Kennedy Award in 2005. He holds engineering
degrees from Iowa State University and The Ohio State University and is a
Registered Professional Engineer.
Jon lives on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, where he pursues his hobby of sailing
on the Chesapeake Bay.
2005 Gaynor Award
Recipient
C. Patrick McFarlane
Oldcastle Materials
Pat McFarlane began his career in the concrete industry in 1973 with Central
Pre-Mix Concrete Company of Spokane, Washington immediately upon graduation
from Brigham Young University. His 32 years to date with the same company
started as a materials testing laboratory technician and has followed a
career path of increasing responsibility as Laboratory Manager, Corporate
Quality Control Manager, Portable Concrete Division Manager, Operations
Manager, Vice President of Central Pre-Mix Concrete Company and the last 7
years as President of Interstate Concrete Company.
Pat has been actively involved on several NRMCA Committees and it’s Board of
Directors. He began his participation on the NRMCA Research, Engineering and
Standards (RES) Committee in 1977. He has been very active on many RES
Committee Task Groups with a keen interest and involvement in Personnel
Certification, quality control and quality assurance specifications,
concrete pavement construction, specifications and testing and has
contributed to the development of the Concrete in Practice series. Pat has
always been vocal to ensure that the activities of the Committee have
benefits to the smaller producer members.
Pat served as Chairman of the RES Committee from 1999 to 2004. During his
tenure, the P2P Initiative was formed to progress the industry towards
performance based specifications.
Pat has served several terms on the NRMCA Board of Directors and it’s
Executive Committee. At the conclusion of this convention he has accepted a
nomination to serve another term on the NRMCA Board of Directors.
Pat and his lovely wife, Corla, live in Spokane, Washington. They have 5
children, 2 of which are currently serving two year service missions for the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Pat enjoys jogging and is
always ready to go fishing. He is active in community and church activities,
as well as the Boy Scouts of America.
2004 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Norm Nelson
Lyman Richey
Corporation
Norm Nelson began his career in the concrete industry in 1976 at the Portland Cement
Association in Omaha, NE. A Nebraska Field Engineer, his focus was on
the general promotion of concrete. Soon after, Norm became PCA's Regional Paving Engineer.
He joined the Lyman-Richey Corporation in 1987 to focus on technical services
and marketing, where he has remained to the present day.
Norm graduated with a civil engineering degree from University of Nebraska
at Omaha in 1967. He is a registered professional engineer in 4 states.
Norm has been active on several NRMCA Committees and its Board of Directors.
He first served on the NRMCA Research Engineering and Standards (RES)
Committee in the late 80s and is still an active member of the Committee. He
has been a strong supporter of the development of research to help answer
the challenges faced by concrete producers in areas such as the selection of
materials and proportioning of concrete mixtures to provide superior
performance.
Norm is a tireless worker for good test methods and standards for
the use of concrete to its best advantage in many applications, but
particularly for concrete as a quality paving material for highways,
streets, parking lots, driveways, and airfields. Norm co-authored an ASCE paper on the problems with the use of flexural strength in FAA concrete
paving specifications and inspection. His efforts helped get the word out,
and it improved specifications and testing.
Norm chaired the RES committee for two terms from 1994 through 1997. Norm
has been very active representing the ready mixed concrete industry on
technical committees of ASTM, ICAR and the Transportation Research Board. He
has served on various expert panels monitoring transportation research
programs.
Norm has been active on the NRMCA Government Affairs and Promotion
Committees. He has served on the NRMCA Board since 1993; the NRMCA Executive
Committee and was the Chairman of the Board in 2001. Norm has served on the
Board of Trustees of the RMC Research Foundation.
Norm and Ginny live in Omaha, Nebraska surrounded by son and daughter and 4
grandchildren. Norm passions include Nebraska football, hunting and fishing.
He is active in the Lions Club, church activities and the local chamber of
commerce.
2003 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Andrew W. Young
Lafarge NA
Andy Young began his career in the ready mixed concrete industry at
Cornell-Young Company in 1962 in Macon Georgia. He became president of
Cornell-Young in 1978 and worked in that capacity serving as its president
until the company was purchased by Blue Circle in 1978. He continued his
career with Blue Circle as a division president for Blue Circle Materials
and recently retired from Lafarge NA.
Andy graduated with an engineering degree from Auburn University and served
on active duty in the Army Reserves.
Andy has been active on several NRMCA Committees and its Board of Directors.
He first served on the NRMCA Research Engineering and Standards (RES)
Committee in 1974 and was active until his recent retirement. His primary
focus was in the development of Concrete In Practice (CIP) topics, strength
of flowable fill, quality assurance specifications and the NRMCA Plant
Certification Program. Andy also took a keen interest in the RES Committee’s
education and certification programs and served as liaison with the NRMCA Educational Activities Committee.
In 1995 and 1996 Andy was RES Committee
Chairman, and he served on the NRMCA Board of Directors
from 1995–2002.
Andy and his wife Pam now live on Amelia Island, Florida. They split their time
between there and their home in Macon to be with their children and three
grandsons.
2002 Gaynor Award
Recipient
T. Michael Kaney
Cemex USA
T. Michael Kaney began his career in the concrete industry in 1956 with Cone
Brothers Contracting Company and Tampa Sand & Materials Company. He has been
with Florida Mining & Materials / Moore McCormick / Southdown / Cemex USA
since 1970. Mike retired recently as Senior Vice President of the Concrete
Products Group. He continues to stay active in the industry and with NRMCA.
Mike served in the US Army Corps of Engineers in Southeast Asia between 1962
and 1964. He graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelors
Degree in Civil Engineering in 1961.
Mike has been active on several NRMCA Committees and its Board of Directors
since the mid 80s. He was the Chairman of NRMCA Board in 1995. His
involvement with the RES Committee dates back to 1986. His attendance record
to RES Committee meetings is hard to beat. His primary interests have been
in the NRMCA Plant Certification program and the use of industrial
wastewater in concrete. He continues to represent NRMCA in the National
Partnership for Highway Quality in their quest for improved quality in
transportation construction.
Mike has been a strong supporter and a critic,
when appropriate, of the RES Committee programs and activities. He has helped
with both the development of the programs and with their incorporation in specifications
and in practice.
Mike and his wife Jana alternate between Tampa and North Carolina and have three
children, Leigh, Laura and Michael.
2001 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Richard C. Meininger
Consultant, FHWA
Richard Meininger joined the staff of NRMCA and the National Aggregates
Association (NAA) in 1964 after he obtained his MS in Civil Engineering from
the University of Maryland. All those years he worked with the Dick Gaynor
in a team that established the stature, respect and credibility that the
Engineering Division of NRMCA and NAA has in the technical community.
Working with Dick, in itself, deserves a special award.
When the joint association staff was split in 1996, Rick moved over with NAA
and continued with them in several positions including the acting president,
until he retired in 1999.
Rick is a Fellow of ACI and ASTM and has received numerous awards from both
organizations. In representing the aggregates and concrete industries, he
has served on various technical Committees of ACI, ASTM, the Transportation
Research Board, the Strategic Highway Research Program, and other
organizations and is a recipient of numerous awards in recognition of his
contributions.
Rick has worked on planning and conducting the Association’s technical
courses and seminars, consulting with member companies on specific problems,
directed the activities at the Associations’ Alfred H. Smith Joint Research
Laboratory, and served as staff liaison with the RES Committee. With the RES
Committee, Rick has been instrumental in developing the Plant Certification
program in its early days, coordinated the development of the Plant
Operators Manual and written or edited various CIPs. He has also authored
various publications on porous pavements, flexural strength specifications,
fly ash, returned concrete, etc.
Rick continues to be active as a consultant on construction materials and
has several high profile projects with ACI and FHWA. He lives with his wife,
Cynthia in Columbia Maryland and has three children and several
grandchildren.
2000 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Earl F. Callison, Jr.
Walt Keeler Company
Earl F. Callison, Jr. began his career in the ready mixed concrete business
with the Walt Keeler Company, Inc. in Wichita, Kansas, in 1949. Earl joined
the Navy in 1950 and served in the Korean War after which he returned to the
Keeler Company in 1954. Earl served in all capacities at the Keeler Company
from dispatching, bookkeeper, purchasing, personnel, sales, batchman,
driver, loader operator and yard supervisor. He was promoted to President
and Chief Executive Officer in 1975 and remained in that position until
November 1996 when the company was sold to Allen’s Concrete, Inc., where he
continues to be involved on a limited basis.
Earl graduated from Wichita State University with a degree in Engineering in
1959. He is involved and has had leadership roles in various civic
activities in the Wichita area.
Earl has been active on NRMCA Committees for several years. He was Chairman
of the Committees on Environmental Problems, Education, Promotion and Long
Range Planning. Earl was the NRMCA Chairman of the Board in 1983. He is also
a past president of the Kansas Ready Mixed Concrete Association.
Earl has been an active participant on the RES Committee, even in recent
years. Earl has been the champion of the smaller producer and has directed
the RES Committee’s work towards developing resources for them. In 1983, he
presented a paper titled Assessing Cement Quality in the USA at the ERMCO
meeting in London in. He was instrumental in developing several popular
NRMCA publications such as the Driver’s Manual, and the Concrete Plant
Operator’s Manual. Earl was involved in developing the first NRMCA
Troubleshooting Seminar. More recently, he was actively monitoring
developments in performance-related and QA/QC specifications resulting in
the NRMCA Guideline Manual for Quality Control/Quality Assurance.
Earl has been married to Karol for 45 years, has two children and five
grandchildren.
1999 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Larry
Asel
Concrete Company of
Springfield
Larry Asel joined the NRMCA Engineering and Standards Committee in 1971 and
was Chairman of the committee for four years in the mid-70's. Larry has
maintained an amazing, near-perfect attendance record with the Committee
even in recent times. He has always pitched in to contribute to the
Committee's work and is an active participant at the meetings.
Larry graduated from the University of Kansas with a B.S. in Civil
Engineering in 1950. He joined the ready mixed concrete industry in 1954 as
an Engineer with the Stewart Sand and Material Company. In 1968 he joined
the Concrete Company of Springfield, in Springfield, Missouri as the
Technical Director. Larry went into semi-retirement in 1992 and continues to
be active at ConCo.
With the NRMCA RES Committee, Larry has always provided a practical
perspective and has directed Committee activities towards helping the
smaller concrete producer. Larry was instrumental in starting the popular
Concrete in
Practice (CIP) information sheets for customers of ready mixed
concrete, and has written or edited all 29 in the series. He has been active
on the Pavements Task Group, especially with trying to get the Federal
Aviation Administration to accept concrete on compressive strength, rather
than flexural beam tests. Larry feels strongly about the deficiencies with
concrete acceptance testing and has contributed to Committee efforts to
improve the situation.
Larry lives with his wife, Jerre, in Springfield and has 3 children and 4
grandchildren. He enjoys traveling both abroad and in the U.S. and does
cross the pond to visit Europe quite often.
1998 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Fred F. Bartel
Tews Lime & Cement
Company
Fred joined NRMCA in 1940 when he was awarded the first Stanton Walker
Fellowship established by NRMCA at the University of Maryland. It was the
beginning of a program based on two years of research leading to a Masters
Degree on a subject of interest to NRMCA. His BS Degree was in Civil
Engineering from the University of Wisconsin. Next he served in the Army Air
Corps where he rose to the rank of Captain. In 1946 he returned to NRMCA as
Assistant to the Director of Engineering, Stanton Walker. At this time the
first of the Maryland Short Courses on Concrete and Aggregates was started.
Fred was an instructor and had a part in an effort which had its 52nd
anniversary this past year.
In 1949 Fred joined Tews Lime & Cement Co. In Milwaukee as their Chief
Engineer. He served on the NRMCA Committee on Standards shortly thereafter.
When that Committee was combined with the Committee on Cement in about 1951
he became Chairman. That committee sponsored NRMCA's Cement
Variability studies, which were published in ASTM in 1954 and 1963. While presiding
over the Standards Committee the program for certification of Ready Mixed
Concrete production Facilities was developed. In the sometimes heated
debates over the program, Fred was convincing in his opinion that the
program should be made available to all ready mixed concrete producers -
members and nonmembers alike. The objective was to upgrade the industry as a
whole.
During this period he also active on the ASTM Subcommittee on Ready Mixed
Concrete, C 94, and served for 12 years as Secretary and 13 years as
Chairman of the Subcommittee.
One meeting Fred remembers most was the Standards Committee meeting in Las
Vegas at the time the Green Bay Packers played the Kansas City Chiefs in the
Super Bowl. As a Packer fan the opportunity of presiding at that meeting was
pure dedication!
When Fred was made President of Tews in 1975 he resigned as Chairman of both
the NRMCA Standards Committee and the ASTM Subcommittee on C 94. However he
remained active on both. In 1979 Fred was elected Chairman of the Board of
NRMCA and in 1984 after his retirement from Tews, Fred was made an Honorary
Member of the NRMCA Board of Directors for life.
Although Fred lost his wife, Ann, years ago, he still lives at his family
home in Milwaukee.
1998 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Melvin W. Flanagan
Walt Flanagan &
Company
Mel Flanagan was a long time active member of the NRMCA Research,
Engineering, and Standards Committee until about 1994 and has been a
supporter and participant in many NRMCA activities.
Mel’s father, Walt Flanagan, was in the sand and gravel business and became
a concrete contractor in 1921 in the Denver area. Mel started working for
his father’s business at the tender age of six, first as a water boy and
moving up to laborer and concrete finisher. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in
1944. After his discharge from the Navy in 1946, Mel started a trucking
company consisting of 3 Ford single axle dump trucks and traded sand, rock,
and pit-run gravel with various sand and gravel companies in the Denver
area.
He attended Denver University in the Civil Engineering program for two
years. When his father became seriously ill, he had to quit school to manage
the contracting business. Mel still regrets that he did not have an
opportunity to complete his studies.
Mel and his father started a ready mix operation, the Walt Flanagan & Co.,
Inc. primarily to supply material for their contracting business. With Mel
at the helm, the ready mixed business grew due to significant demand, and
consisted of 7 batch plants and around 150 trucks when it was sold to the
Cooley Gravel Company in 1992.
Mel was active in the RES Committee and notes that he enjoyed working in
this committee as the staff and fellow Committee members were very dedicated
to improving the quality and performance of the very best building material,
concrete. Mel always stressed on product quality in his efforts to improve
the image of the industry. He was Chairman of the RES Committee for three
years from 1989 to 1991. He was supportive of the Associations’ Joint
Research Laboratory and was instrumental in getting the lab to purchase of
its 1 million pound testing machine. He also served as Vice Chairman of
Rocky Mountain Region of the NRMCA Promotion Committee. He served on the
NRMCA Board of Directors for 5 years.
Mel has been active in the Colorado Ready Mixed Concrete Association, where
he was president in 1965-66 and is now a lifetime honorary board member.
Since retirement, Mel has been keeping busy working with his collection of
antique firearms and automobiles. He keeps getting injured playing golf but
has become proficient at gin rummy and given the chance is ready to open a
casino.
1998 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Herbert L. Harger
Con Rock Company
Herb first became active in NRMCA (and NAA) in the late 1960c serving as a
member of the NRMCA Committee on Research and Standards and as an early, if
not the first Chairman of the Committee on Environmental Problems.
He is a Civil Engineer, having graduated from the University of Pittsburgh
in 1957 after service in the Navy. On graduation he worked briefly as a
mathematician and then for six years a Resident Engineer with the California
Division of Highways. He came to our industry in 1957 as an engineer for the
Con Rock Co., now Cal Mat. In that position he was involved in or
responsible for the design and construction of both concrete and aggregate
plants. He is a registered as both a Civil and a Mechanical engineer in
California.
Over the years he advanced to the position of Executive Vice President of Con
Rock in 1981, and retired to private practice in 1984. During this time he was
one of the many Cal Mat / Con Rock employees that contributed
significantly to the activities of NRMCA / NAA and their local
associations.
Herb presented a series of papers at NAA–NRMCA
Convention that dealt with the then exploding water and air pollution
regulations as the were first being applied to our industries. These papers
were the basis for a number of important NRMCA–NAA Publications. His 1974 paper “A System for 100%
Recycling of Returned Concrete” was a description of a operating plant in
Los Angeles and it provided a fundamental basis for the reuse of wash water
and recycled concrete that was approved by ASTM C 94 and the California
Department of Highways.
In the early 1980s Herb served on the NRMCA Board of Directors and its
Executive Committee Today he is still active in the Southern California
Chapter of ACI and resides in Manhattan Beach, CA with his lovely wife Jean.
1998 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Edward L. Howard
RMC Lonestar
Ed Howard was a member of the NRMCA Committee on Standards from 1946 through 1976,
and he served as its chairman from 1974 to 1976. Additionally, he was a member of the NRMCA Board of
Directors from 1974 to 1976.
As a young man, Ed started work with the US Bureau of Reclamation’s Control
Section on the Hoover Dam in 1934. It was here that he was a pioneer in
developing the use of sulfur caps for testing concrete cylinders. In 1941 he
joined Pacific Cement and Aggregates Company, later to become Lone Star
Industries and finally RMC Lonestar. He retired from RMC Lonestar in 1976.
During his career he had an opportunity to work for and with many of the
notable researchers of his time, including Joe Kelly, T.E. Stanton and R. E.
Davis. Ed is a past member of the American Concrete Institute, Society of
American Military Engineers, American Society for Testing and Materials, and
the American Society for Quality Control.
Ed remembers attending the first Short Course at the University of Maryland
in 1946 when the choice was between flying or taking the train. Some of the
work of the Standards Committee that he remembers best was the Certification
Program of Ready Mixed Concrete Plants and Facilities, personnel
certification, and early work on moisture meters. He found the NRMCA
Committee activity interesting and challenging, so much so that he almost
lost his job when NRMCA published the results of the studies of the
Variability of Portland Cement.
On retirement Ed and his wife did a 5-year commitment for their Church in
Chili and now lives in Veradale, Washington with his daughter and son
in-law, Pat McFarlane. His son, Nate Howard, former Director of Technical
Services for Lone Star Northwest, also lives nearby.
1998 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Donald J. Peters
Genstar Stone
Products Company
Don first became active in NRMCA as a member of the then two engineering
committees, on “Standards” and on “Research and Engineering”. When these two
committees were combined in 1976 he became their Chairman and served for
four years.
Don is a native of Baltimore and his father was a finish carpenter. After a
couple of years with the Maryland State Highway Administration he came to
work in the laboratory at the Harry T. Campbell & Sons Co., (later Flintcote
Stone Products Co. and then Genstar Stone Products Co.). In 1964 Don was
awarded a BS Degree in Chemical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.
Although we had known Don through the Campbell Company’s participation and
support of NRMCA and NSGA, one of Don’s early contributions was his
participation as a speaker giving two papers at NRMCA’s first “Conference on
Pollution Control” in Chicago in 1972. Early in his work with the Research
Engineering and Standards Committee Don accepted a leadership role in the
cooperative work with the Portland Cement Association to develop what was to
become the ASTM Method for Evaluation of Cement Strength Uniformity from a
Single Source” C917. During the period from 1972 to 1986 he produced more
than 20 papers of topical interest to the ready mixed concrete industry.
They covered such things as: quality control, air and water pollution,
recycling, cement variability, quality control of ready mixed concrete,
statistical analysis and statistically orientated specifications.
His dedicated service to NRMCA includes:
Chairman, NRMCA Committee on Research, Engineering and Standards, 1976 -
82
Member, NRMCA Board of Directors, 1976 - 86
Member, Executive Committee, 1981 - 82
Member, Long Range Planning Committee, 1978 - 84
Member, NRMCA/NSGA Joint Committee on Energy Conservation, 1982,-,84
In 1987 Don became the President and
COO of American Stone-Mix, Inc. This was the Packaged Materials Division of
Genstar Stone Products that was spun off when Redland acquired Genstar. As
such they are the largest producer of SAKRETE cement mixes and driveway
sealer products. They also furnish a variety of other construction products
and run a flowable fly ash fill operation.
Don lives with his wife Loretta in Bladwin, MD and after a brief period of
chasing small white balls is now back to his real avocation - fly fishing in
salt water - where he is a recognized expert.
1998 Gaynor Award
Recipient
Ralph Vencill
Materials Service
Corporation
Ralph became a member of the NRMCA Research Engineering and Standards
Committee in1971and was active for over 20 years. During much of that time
he served as the Chairman of the Task Group on Laboratory Certification and
was involved when NRMCA petitioned the Department of Commerce for
development of the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program. His
contributions to the work of the Committee were from his extensive practical
knowledge of field practice and conditions. Often his observations and good
humor were instrumental in keeping the Committee on track.
In part this came from the fact that after service in the Navy he came back
and worked for several consulting engineering firms that were involved in
the construction of toll roads, including the Illinois Toll Road. In 1961 he
went to work with Material Service Corporation in Chicago where he had an
opportunity to be involved in many different technical projects such as
pre-stressed concrete, high strength concrete and even flowing concrete.
Material Services programs that involved routine cement testing and the use
of fly ash and admixtures to push the available technology to produce “high
performance concrete” well before that term became such a key word with the
theoretical researchers of today. When notified of this award he wanted to
know, “Why me? It really belongs to all my friends and colleagues, not only
at Material Service, but throughout the Industry.”
Ralph retired from Material Service in 1991 after 31 years of service and
lives with his wife in Palatine, Illinois. They enjoy being close to their
three children and four grandchildren.