William "Bill" James LeMessurier, Jr. (; June 12, 1926 – June 14, 2007) was a prominent American

structural engineer Structural engineers analyze, design, plan, and research structural components and structural systems to achieve design goals and ensure the safety and comfort of users or occupants. Their work takes account mainly of safety, technical, economi ...

Early life and education

Born in

Pontiac, Michigan Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 61,606. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Pontiac is about northwest of Detroit. Found ...

, Bill was the youngest of four children of Bertha (Sherman) and William James LeMessurier Sr., owners of a dry cleaning business. After finishing high school, he left Michigan to major in Mathematics at

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...

. He graduated with an AB in Mathematics in 1947, then went to

Harvard Graduate School of Design The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate school of design at Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers master's and doctoral programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urban ...

. He later transferred to the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of th ...

where he earned his

Master's Degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in building engineering and construction in 1953.

Career

While at MIT, LeMessurier worked for Albert Goldberg, an established Boston structural engineer; eventually LeMessurier became a partner and the firm was renamed Goldberg-LeMessurier Associates. In April 1961, the two separated and Bill launched his firm LeMessurier Consultants.Harvard Design School Faculty
LeMessurier was responsible for the structural engineering on a large number of prominent buildings, including

Boston City Hall Boston City Hall is the seat of city government of Boston, Massachusetts. It includes the offices of the mayor of Boston and the Boston City Council. The current hall was built in 1968 to assume the functions of the Old City Hall. It is a con ...

, the

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, commonly known as the Boston Fed, is responsible for the First District of the Federal Reserve, which covers New England: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont and all of Connecticut excep ...

, the Singapore Treasury Building, and the Dallas Main Center. LeMessurier is perhaps best known for his role during the Citicorp Center engineering crisis, when he secretly reassessed his calculations on the Citicorp headquarters tower in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

after the building had been finished in 1977. In June 1978,

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

engineering student Diane Hartley contacted LeMessurier's office after she identified winds that could topple the building under certain circumstances. Later, another young student, Lee deCarolis, prompted LeMessurier to redo his analysis. He discovered that the contractor had replaced the required welded joints with lower-cost, and potentially weaker bolted joints. This weakness could contribute to the building collapsing in "quartering" winds. This realization triggered a hurried, clandestine retrofit which was described in a 1995 article in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' entitled "The Fifty-Nine-Story Crisis". The case is now an ethical case-study in architectural degree programs.

Awards

He was awarded the AIA Allied Professions Medal in 1968, elected to the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...

in 1978, elected an honorary member of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to s ...

in 1988, and elected an honorary member of the

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

(ASCE) in 1989. In 1999, he received the American Institute of Steel Construction's J. Llloyd Kimbrough Award, its highest honor. In 2004, he was elevated to National Honor Member of

Chi Epsilon Chi Epsilon () is an American civil engineering honor society. It honors engineering students in the United States who have exemplified the "principles of scholarship, character, practicality, and sociability...in the civil engineering pr ...

, the national civil engineering honor society.

Death

LeMessurier died in

Casco, Maine Casco is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,646 at the 2020 census. Casco includes the villages of Casco, South Casco and Cook Mills. The town borders the east shore of Sebago Lake, and is home to part ...

on June 14, 2007 as a result of complications after surgery he underwent on June 1 after a fall the day before.

References

External links