Vincent T. Ricca, a beloved past professor of civil engineering at the Ohio State University and a former president of the ASCE Central Ohio Section, has died. He was 86.
Ricca, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, was known as always being available to answer a question, whether on open-channel hydraulics or other subjects. His students and dissertation committees appreciated that greatly.
He was professor emeritus in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering at OSU. Ricca later had a successful career as an engineer with his own consulting practice. He also served in the U.S. Navy. He authored more than 20 technical publications on surface hydrology and flood studies.
He was a fellow as well as a life member of ASCE, where his contributions included serving as president of the Central Ohio Section and as a reviewer for the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering.
Ricca was admired and respected as a world-class educator and advisor, and won numerous teaching awards at OSU. Ten of his former students received OSU Department of Civil Engineering Alumni Association Outstanding Alumni Awards, and he was always happy to see the positive impact his students were making as they progressed in their careers.
He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and met the love of his life when they were in high school. After earning his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the City College of New York in 1962, he received a master’s in civil engineering from Purdue University in 1964, focused on hydrology, followed by a doctorate in 1966 from Purdue in hydraulic engineering.
The Professor Vincent T. Ricca Engineering Scholarship Fund remains at OSU in his honor.
