Edward O. Pfrang, former executive director of ASCE from 1983 through 1995, has died at 96.
Just before his arrival at ASCE, Pfrang, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, led the federal investigation into the 1981 Hyatt Regency walkway collapse in Kansas City, Missouri, one of the deadliest structural failures in U.S. history.
Born August 9, 1929, in New Haven, Connecticut, Pfrang was the son of German immigrants. He earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Connecticut in 1951 and a master’s in engineering from Yale University in 1952. After service in the U.S. Navy, he earned a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1961.
For the next five years Pfrang shaped students’ minds as an instructor at the University of Nevada, Reno, then at the University of Delaware.
In 1966, he joined the National Bureau of Standards, today the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in Washington, D.C. Pfrang rose to chief of the Structures and Materials Safety Division, and in that role headed the investigation into the now-infamous hotel walkway collapse. His team’s findings, which traced the collapse to an unreviewed design change, drew national attention and reshaped engineering practice across the country, prompting lasting reforms in structural design review, quality control, and engineering ethics that are still taught today.
In 1983, Pfrang departed the agency to take the leadership of ASCE as executive director, a position he held for more than a decade while the Society was still headquartered in New York City. It was the capstone of a career defined by leadership and service to the engineering profession. At his departure in 1995, ASCE honored him with the Presidents-Emeriti Council Award in gratitude.
Pfrang was a lover of the great outdoors, an avid skier, who cherished the canoeing and camping trips he took with his children over the years. A love of German food and marching music were nods to his heritage.
Pfrang was predeceased by his wife of more than 50 years, Jacquelyn, who died in 2010. He spent his last years in Jupiter, Florida, with partner Doris Klimeric. He is survived by two daughters, a son, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
