Stephen Davison Bechtel Jr. (May 10, 1925 – March 15, 2021) was an American

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

, businessman, civil engineer, and co-owner of the Bechtel Corporation. He was the son of

Stephen Davison Bechtel Sr. Stephen Davison Bechtel (September 24, 1900 – March 14, 1989) was the son of Clara Alice West and Warren A. Bechtel, founder of the Bechtel Corporation. He was the president of the company from 1933 to 1960. Early life Stephen Davison Bechte ...

and grandson of Warren A. Bechtel, who founded the Bechtel Corporation. He was known for expanding the global footprint of the corporation through several of its international projects. Some of the projects executed under his leadership of the company included King Khalid International Airport in

Riyadh Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the R ...

as well as

Jubail Industrial City Jubail Industrial City, the world's largest industrial city, was established in 1975 and is located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. It covers 1,016 square kilometers and includes industrial complexes and port facilities. It contributes t ...

in Saudi Arabia as well as oil platforms in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

, liquefied natural gas plants in Algeria, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates. Bechtel also served on the board of

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

and International Business Machines. He had a bachelor's degree from the

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

and a master's degree from the

Stanford Graduate School of Business The Stanford Graduate School of Business (also known as Stanford GSB) is the graduate business school of Stanford University, a private research university in Stanford, California. For several years it has been the most selective business schoo ...

. At the time of his death, he had a net worth of nearly

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

3 billion according to ''Forbes''.

Early life

Bechtel was born in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, on May 10, 1925. He was the son of Laura A. Peart and

Stephen Bechtel Sr. Stephen Davison Bechtel (September 24, 1900 – March 14, 1989) was the son of Clara Alice West and Warren A. Bechtel, founder of the Bechtel Corporation. He was the president of the company from 1933 to 1960. Early life Stephen Davison Bechte ...

, and the grandson of Warren A. Bechtel, the founder of American construction and civil engineering firm Bechtel Corporation. During his time in high school, he enlisted in Marine Corps Reserve, and went to

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

to study engineering. In 1946, he graduated from

with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in civil engineering, where he was a member of

Beta Theta Pi Beta Theta Pi (), commonly known as Beta, is a North American social fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of North America's oldest fraternities, as of 2022 it consists of 144 active chapters in the Unite ...

, and married Elizabeth "Betty" Mead Hogan, a

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

alumna. He earned his

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

degree from the

in 1948.

Career

Bechtel joined the family business in 1948. While he initially wanted to enter into home building, he was convinced by his father by showcasing Bechtel Corporation's global projects in a three week trip. He succeeded his father, Stephen Bechtel Sr., as president of Bechtel Corporation in 1960 and chairman in 1969. His career with the company spanned 30 years until his retirement in 1990. During his time, the company which was earlier known for its work on the

Hoover Dam Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on Se ...

and the

Bay Area Rapid Transit Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes on of rapid transit lines, including a spur line in eastern Contra Costa County which uses ...

, expanded its global footprint by working on the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...

between France and the United Kingdom, King Khalid International Airport in

as well as

in Saudi Arabia. The last is considered one of the largest civil engineering projects of the time. The company was involved in the build out of oil platforms in the

, liquefied natural gas plants in Algeria, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates, and also in the cleanup of the nuclear reactor site

Three Mile Island 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * ''Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

in Pennsylvania. The company's role in Boston's infrastructure projects, titled Big Dig, in the 1990s came into scrutiny, with the company having to pay to settle litigation over a ceiling collapse and leaky tunnels. Earlier, the company had been charged by the US Justice Department in 1976 of illegally complying with the

Arab League boycott of Israel The Arab League boycott of Israel is a strategy adopted by the Arab League and its member states to boycott economic and other relations between Arabs and the Arab states and Israel and specifically stopping all trade with Israel which adds to ...

, and had also faced criticism for undertaking projects in

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

's Iraq of the 1980s. During his leadership, the

1980s oil glut The 1980s oil glut was a serious surplus of crude oil caused by falling demand following the 1970s energy crisis. The world price of oil had peaked in 1980 at over US$35 per barrel (equivalent to $ per barrel in dollars, when adjusted for inf ...

and the resulting plunge in oil prices resulted in reduced spend by the middle-eastern countries on infrastructure projects including petroleum pipelines, resulting in a significant impact to the company's business. In addition to retrenchments of about half of its 44,000 member large workforce, the company under Bechtel's leadership undertook financial engineering actions including taking part ownership in some of the infrastructure projects. During his time the company, over three decades, the company's revenues grew eleven-fold, and the company also pivoted from majority ownership residing within the family to a model that had majority ownership by managers outside of the family. He held 20 percent of the company shares and his net worth in 2021 was estimated by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' to be $2.9 billion. After his retirement from Bechtel Corporation, he headed the real estate company Fremont Group, which was also an early investor in

Starbucks Corp Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Seattle, Washington. It is the List of coffeehouse chains, world's larges ...

oration. He had also served as director on the board of

and International Business Machines.

Political appointments

Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Bechtel to the President’s Committee on Urban Housing.

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

named him to membership on the National Industrial Pollution Control Council, the National Commission on Productivity, the Labor Management Advisory Committee, and the National Commission for Industrial Peace.

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

asked Bechtel to serve on the President’s Labor-Management Committee.

Boy Scouts

Bechtel became an

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Sc ...

in 1940 and has been recognized by the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...

with both the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award and the

Silver Buffalo Award The Silver Buffalo Award is the national-level distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America. It is presented for noteworthy and extraordinary service to youth on a national basis, either as part of, or independent of the Scouting pro ...

. Stephen's uncle Kenneth K. Bechtel was awarded the Silver Buffalo in 1950 and served as

national president of the Boy Scouts of America The national chair is the leading volunteer of the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America, a position comparable to the chairman of a board of directors. Prior to 2018, the role of National Chair was titled National President. T ...

from 1956 to 1959. The BSA acquired new property near

Beckley, West Virginia Beckley is a city in and the county seat of Raleigh County, West Virginia, United States. It was founded on April 4, 1838. This city is the home of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology or West Virginia University, Beckley Campus. ...

, for a new high adventure base in 2009. Bechtel donated $50 million towards the new base, which has been named The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve.

Philanthropy

Bechtel was a contributor to many environmental causes. He created a foundation in 1957 to support these cases. The foundation contributed $50 million to create a National Scout Reserve in southern

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, which is now the home of the national boy scout jamboree. The foundation contributed $25 million to renovate the

Presidio of San Francisco The Presidio of San Francisco (originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or The Royal Fortress of Saint Francis) is a park and former U.S. Army post on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, and is part o ...

. The S. D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation and the Stephen Bechtel Fund support many non-profit groups, especially in the San Francisco Bay area. Stephen and Betty's largess also extended to

's International House,

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...

, Achievement Rewards for College Scientists, the

San Francisco Symphony The San Francisco Symphony (SFS), founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San Fr ...

, the

San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Franc ...

, the

Head Royce School Head-Royce School (Head-Royce or HRS) is a Independent school, private Mixed-sex education, co-educational University-preparatory school, college-preparatory K-12 school in Oakland, California, Oakland, California. The forerunner of Head-Royce w ...

, the

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the ...

, the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

, the American Friends of the Royal Academy Trust, the Nature Conservancy, the

Royal Oak Foundation The Royal Oak Foundation is an alliance of American citizens supporting the mission of the National Trust of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which is Britain's largest heritage organisation. The foundation is headquartered in New York City ...

, the Huntington Library, and the

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...

Awards and honors

Bechtel was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

in 1990. He is the 1980 recipient of the

Hoover Medal The Hoover Medal is an American engineering prize. It has been given since 1930 for "outstanding extra-career services by engineers to humanity". The prize is given jointly by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Institute of Min ...

, which commemorates the civic and humanitarian achievements of engineers. In 1990, he was elevated to National Honor Member by Chi Epsilon, the national civil engineering honor society. In 1998, he and his son Riley were presented with the

Honor Award The National Building Museum promotes excellence in architecture, engineering, construction, planning, and design. In furtherance of that mission, the Museum instituted an annual Honor Award in 1986 to recognize individuals and organizations that h ...

from the

National Building Museum The National Building Museum is located at 401 F Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is a museum of "architecture, design, engineering, construction, and urban planning". It was created by an act of Congress in 1980, and is a private Non-profit org ...

for their company's contributions to the built environment. Bechtel received the

Award of Excellence The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...

from ''Engineering News-Record'' for his leadership of Bechtel Corporation. He received the

National Medal of Technology and Innovation The National Medal of Technology and Innovation (formerly the National Medal of Technology) is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development ...

in 1991, from the then US President,

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

Personal life

Bechtel and his wife, Betty, had two sons and three daughters. One son, Riley Bechtel, succeeded him as the chairman and chief executive of the Bechtel Corporation. He was a nature enthusiast and hiker who had once made the trek to the Everest base camp and had also hiked the John Muir Trail over a 211 mile course. Bechtel died on March 15, 2021, at his home in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, California. He was aged 95.

Books

References

External links

National Academy of Engineering: 1999 Founders Award Recipient"Stephen Bechtel Jr.", ''Bechtel Corporation''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bechtel, Stephen 1925 births 2021 deaths American billionaires American chief executives Bechtel California Institute of Technology trustees Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences National Medal of Technology recipients Purdue University College of Engineering alumni Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople 20th-century American philanthropists 21st-century American philanthropists Businesspeople from Oakland, California Philanthropists from California United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II United States Marine Corps reservists Hikers

Early life

Career

Political appointments

Boy Scouts

Philanthropy

Awards and honors

Personal life

Books

See also

References

External links