ASCE Foundation Elects its Fourth PresidentLuther W. Graef P.E., F.ASCE Joins Foundation as New President
On July 18, 2006, ASCE Past President Luther W. Graef, P.E., F.ASCE became the fourth President of the ASCE Foundation in its 12-year history.
Graef, 75, is no stranger to the ASCE Foundation as he helped to found it in 1994. He served on the Foundation's first Strategic Planning Committee which established the Foundation’s current mission — to generate resources for the civil engineering profession. Working under this mission, the Foundation continues to raise money and other resources for ASCE and its affiliates—CEFI and the ASCE Institutes.
Volunteer service has always been a part of Graef's life, whether for ASCE, the ASCE Foundation, or organizations in his community. He has passionately served ASCE throughout the years as: President, Vice President, and Director of ASCE's Wisconsin Section; Chair of ASCE's Committee of Standards of Practice and Committee on Curricula and Accreditation, and District Director—ASCE Board of Direction (District 8) from 1989-1992.
In his community, his volunteer service has included: Board of Assessment of the City of Milwaukee (Chair 5 terms); Past President, Councilman, and Committee Chair at Redeemer Lutheran Church; 26 years of leadership in the Boy Scouts of America, Board of Directors, Lutheran Men in American of Wisconsin, 10 years on St. Luke’s Hospital Association; and on the Board of Directors of Luther Manor Board.
Graef earned his civil engineering degree from Marquette University in 1952. He served in the US Army from 1953 to 1956. He received his M.S. in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1961, the same year he founded Graef, Anhalt, Schloemer & Associates Inc. (GASAI), now a 300+ employee engineering firm. He is the past Chairman of the Board of GASAI and is a licensed engineer in Wisconsin and Colorado.
In 1995, Graef provided a leadership gift for the Foundations first capital campaign Building for the 21st Century which provided the funds to move ASCE from New York City to the Washington, DC area. Plus, he is one of the first to join The Civil Engineering Legacy Society established by the Foundation to recognize those who have made "future gifts" through estate planning to support the future of civil engineering.
In his inaugural speech as President of ASCE, Graef stated, "Our membership must be given the opportunity to further enhance the profession. I ask that a permanent planned giving program be developed so that by the year 2002 (ASCE's 150th anniversary) we will be able to make substantive grants to civil engineering needs." Through Graef's support and leadership, the Foundation has developed the beginnings of a strong planned giving program and has 27 members of The Civil Engineering Legacy Society.
A favorite quote of Lou Graef's follows:
"To the engineer falls the job of clothing the bare bones of science with life, comfort, and hope. No doubt, as years go by, people forget which engineer did it, even if they ever knew….But the engineer himself looks back at the unending stream of good news which flows from his successes with satisfactions that few professionals may know."
Herbert Clark Hoover
31st President of the United States of American 1929-1933
