Richard “Dick” W. Furlong, a member of the ASCE Board of Direction from 1990-92 for the former Zone 15, a Distinguished Member, and 1997 president of the Texas Section whose research enhanced structural engineering as a University of Texas professor at Austin for more than five decades, has died. He was 96.
“Dick was my hero because he was a person with great mental and spirtual skills,” wrote Richard W. Kistner, 1982 Texas Section president on a memorial page of the section website. He was a great professional engineer and teacher. I really loved this man and his family.”
Furlong, Ph.D., P.E., Dist.M.ASCE, joined the University of Texas at Austin faculty in 1958 after a six-year apprenticeship designing bridges and building structures in St. Louis. A career dedicated to improving design practice saw many of his structural contributions gain wide adoption, among them several design aids for professionals.
His advancements in composite column design enhanced the earthquake resistance of bridges and building frames. Research by Furlong into biaxial bending of columns, column slenderness, and inelastic behavior of frames contributed to enhanced design specifications for both steel and concrete structures. His studies of inverted T-beam bent caps earned the Raymond C. Reese Award from the American Concrete Institute, while his numerous design aids for concrete structures have been staples of ACI for 25 years.
An ASCE life member, Furlong served on the boards of the Society and ACI, he was elected president of the Texas Section ASCE in 1997. He was recognized as a honorary member of ASCE in 2001, received ACI’s Educational Activities Committee Speaker of the Year in 2004.
Born in Norwalk, Ohio, he set off on a lifelong passion for learning and teaching. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Texas in Austin, where he went on to teach structures in a 51-year tenure from 1958 to 2009, along the way inspiring and mentoring hundreds of students.
Furlong enjoyed golf, bridge, movies, travel, and time with his family. He was noted for his wisdom, kindness, and unwavering dedication to education.
