Farewell
Mihran Agbabian (Ph.D.’51 CE) died in February at the age of 96. At Berkeley, he was the first doctoral student in the structural engineering program. After earning his degree, he worked as a structural engineer, starting his own consulting company, Agbabian Associates. He later became a professor at the University of Southern California, serving as chair of the civil engineering department and director of the environmental engineering program. In 1991, he became the founding president of the American University of Armenia in Yerevan. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, he received many honors for his work, including the Berkeley Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award, Ellis Island Medal of Honor and the Movses Khorenatsi Medal from the Republic of Armenia.
G.D. Agrawal (M.S.’65, Ph.D.’66 CE) died in October at the age of 86. A prominent environmental activist in India, he began his career as an environmental engineering professor at the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur. He also served on India’s Central Pollution Control Board and was co-founder of Envirotech Instruments, which developed devices for monitoring air pollution. He later became a staunch advocate for the Ganges River, working tirelessly to protect and revive the famous waterway.
Gale Dougherty (B.S.’40 CE) died in August at the age of 100. He served as a major in the U.S. Army during World War II, then received his master’s degree in hydraulics and structures from the University of Iowa. For 30 years, he was a hydraulics engineer for Southern Company Services, where he managed hydroelectric projects throughout the southern United States. A fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, he was a leader in developing performance standards for hydraulic turbines.
Hormozd Gahvari (M.S.’06 CS) died in October at the age of 34. In 2014, he earned his doctorate in computer science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He then joined the Center for Applied Scientific Computing at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow.
Ralph “Gary” Gray (B.S.’53 CE) died in May 2018 at the age of 88. Following graduation, he served in the U.S. Army as a specialty orthopedic technician, creating prosthetics for wounded soldiers. He received a master’s degree in civil engineering from MIT, then worked as an engineer and architect in the Bay Area. He also taught engineering seminars, worked as an expert witness and served on committees revising seismic building codes.
Russell Ludwig (B.S.’41, M.S.’42 CE) died in August at the age of 98. During World War II, he worked at North American Aviation and served in the U.S. Public Health Service. He started his career as a sanitary engineer, designing sewer facilities in California, before becoming president of ES International, where he managed engineering projects around the world. He eventually established his own firm, Encibra, in Brazil, and served as a consultant for numerous global health projects.
William Shaw (B.S.’48 CE) died in January at the age of 92. He worked for the California Department of Water Resources for many years before earning his master’s in public administration from Harvard University. He went on to have an engineering career that spanned the globe, working in Pakistan, Panama, Iran and Indonesia.
Forrest Smith (B.S.’42 CE) died in January at the age of 98. Following
his graduation from Berkeley, he volunteered for the military and served as an officer in the 20th Air Force in the South Pacific during World War II. After the war, he started at Chevron, where he held managerial roles both here and abroad. He later became the executive vice president of Clean Bay Inc., an industry-wide organization formed to clean up oil spills, where he received numerous commendations for his work.
Jack Wing (B.S.’51, M.S.’60, Ph.D.’63 EE) died in September at the age of 89. After earning his bachelor’s degree, he worked for Boeing and Bendix, including an assignment with MIT Lincoln Laboratory. He returned to Berkeley for graduate studies, and after receiving his doctorate, he launched his career with TRW, retiring as project manager after 30 years with the company.