RAYMOND J. HODGE 1922-1990

BY WILSON V. BINGER

Raymond J. Hodge, retired partner in the engineering, architectural, and planning firm of Tippetts-Abbett-McCarthy-Stratton (TAMS) headquartered in New York, died on October 27, 1990, at the age of sixty-eight.

Hodge was born in New York City on May 15, 1922, and received a B.C.E. from Manhattan College in 1944. He entered the U.S. Navy in 1943 and served as an engineering officer with the 105th U.S. Naval Construction Battalion, working on military airfields, roads, and waterfront facilities in New Guinea, the Philippines, and North China. From 1946 to 1951 he was at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, first as a graduate student earning an M.C.E. in 1948, then as an assistant professor of engineering. More recently he became a member of the Board of Advisors of Cornell's College of Engineering.

During the Korean War, Ray Hodge served from 1951 to 1953 as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, with responsibility for developing a U.S. Navy Master Jet Base in Brunswick, Maine.

In 1953 Hodge joined TAMS, where he remained until his retirement in 1988. During his thirty-five years with the firm, twenty of them as a partner, he traveled widely, was in residence in several overseas locations, and became an internationally recognized expert in airport planning and design. He managed the planning, design, and construction supervision of the Dal las/Fort Worth Airport in Texas. He also directed the planning and design of airports in Amman, Jordan; Lisbon, Portugal; Seoul, Korea; Bangkok, Thailand; and Tehran, Iran.

Ray's experience was not limited to airports, however. He was in charge of the Mount Newman iron ore project in northwestern Australia, which included planning and design for a 285-mile railroad, two towns, and port and harbor facilities. He also oversaw highway and port projects in Southeast Asia and in Central America. Most recently, in charge of TAMS's South Atlantic office in Washington, D.C., he oversaw the firm's services for the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation and the rehabilitation of Union Station.

Hodge held professional licenses in eleven states, the District of Columbia, and Australia. He was a member of Chi Epsilon and Tau Beta Pi. His professional society affiliations included the American Society of Civil Engineers; the Society of American Military Engineers; the American Consulting Engineers Council; the American Institute of Mining Engineers; the National Society of Professional Engineers; the American Academy of Environmental Engineers; and the Institution of Engineers, Australia. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1983. He chaired and spoke at many meetings in the United States and overseas and was active in committee work of several organizations.

Many professional honors came to Ray Hodge during his career. He received the Past Presidents Award from the American Consulting Engineers Council, the Guy Kelcey Award from the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, and the James Laurie Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers. In addition, he received awards from Engineering News Record and Civil Engineering magazines for his work on the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. He authored a number of articles on airports for technical and professional publications.

Ray is remembered by his associates as a warm, caring individual with an outstanding personality. He liked people generally and did not forget his friends, of whom he had a great many throughout the world. He was almost always cheerful, despite suffering for more than twenty years from rheumatoid arthritis, complications from which led to his death.

Ray is survived by his wife, Lorraine; two daughters, Susan and Patricia; two sons, Christopher and Raymond; and two grandchildren.