Walter P. Moore, Jr

notable structural engineers Great achievements Walter P. Moore, Jr. Computer Sophistication and National Prominence By Richard G. Weingardt, P.E., Dist.M.ASCE, F.ACEC, D.Sc.h.c. hen Rice University pre- They are the first father and son to win all sented Walter P. Moore, three awards.” In addition, Walter, Jr. was the Jr. with its Distinguished recipient of a distinguished alumnus award Alumnus Award in 1995, from the University of Illinois and a member Wit reported: “From the time he was a child, of the National Academy of Engineering. Walter knew he would be an engineer like Asked if he had surpassed his father’s suc- his father. What he didn’t know was that cess, Walter, Jr., replied, “Hell, no. I am ® someday he would equal his father’s suc- doing well just to match him. He [Walter, cess. Like his father, he has won three of Sr.] came out of the Depression and, through the most prestigious awards a person can a lot of hard work, created a firm that built Walter P. Moore, Jr. Courtesy of Walter P Moore. win for professional achievements: Rice’s things like the Rice Stadium. I came along Outstanding Engineering Alumnus, when everyone knew who I was. But by Corporate Center, and designed by architect Engineer of the Year Region IV given by the same tokenCopyright I moved the firm into the Cesar Pelli), when topped off at a height of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers, computer era and made it a national firm.” 871 feet in 1992, garnered the title as the and Rice’s Distinguished Alumnus this year. Moore took over the leadership of his highest building in North Carolina. father’s firm, Walter P Moore (WPM), in Walter, Jr. was born in Houston on May 1971 when the 69-year-old founder stepped 6, 1937, to Walter and Zoe (McBride) down as president. At the time, the com- Moore, the oldest of two boys. Following pany was headquartered in Houston with a in his father’s footsteps, Walter, Jr. became a handful of smaller branch offices scattered structural engineer while his younger brother, around – and a bulging portfolio of impres- Robert Laurence (“Larry”), became a history sive Texas projects. As his father’s understudy, professor. The young Moore brothers grew up Walter, Jr. was involved in many of the major a few blocks from Rice University and played ones,magazine most notably the Miller Outdoor along the shady tree-lined streets in the area. S T RTheater, USix Flags CAstroWorld, T alterations U Walter, R Jr. perfected E his tennis game on the to the Astrodome, and the Houston Hyatt university’s clay courts and attended college Hotel, which officially debuted in 1972. At football games at Rice Stadium, which was 401 feet, the Hyatt was (and is) Houston’s engineered by his father as were a number of tallest hotel. For its crown, it has a roof-level other Rice campus structures. revolving restaurant known as “Spindletop.” Many years later, when head of WPM, The hotel’s dramatic 30-story atrium was the Walter, Jr. also engineered several Rice build- backdrop for the 1976 Hollywood movie ings, including Sewall Hall, Lovett College, Logan’s Run. the Mudd Computer Building, Anderson While president and later chairman of the Hall, Jake Hess Tennis Facility, Herring Hall board of WPM, Walter, Jr. was instrumental and the Duncan Building (Rice’s state-of- in leading the firm to national prominence the-art computational engineering facility). in the design of high-rise buildings, sports The entire Moore family studied at Rice. facilities and other complex projects. In Walter, Jr.’s father graduated in 1927, while increasing and broadening the firm’s range of his mother Zoe attended the institution in clients and ventures, and greatly improving 1926. His brother Larry graduated in 1962 its computer-design capabilities, he was inti- and Walter, Jr. received a bachelor’s of art in mately involved in the engineering of such civil engineering in 1959 and a bachelor’s of noteworthy structures as the Pyramid Arena, science in the same field in 1960. Throughout Memphis, Tennessee; IBM Tower in Atlanta, his life, Moore gave generously to his alma Georgia; and NationsBank Corporate Plaza mater. He served as president of the Rice in Charlotte, North Carolina. When com- Alumni Association and the Rice Engineering pleted in 1987, the IBM Tower (now known Alumni Association, and on the board of as One Atlantic Center, with Johnson/Burgee the Rice Design Alliance and its Engineering as architects) was the tallest building in the Advisory Council. He was also an adjunct Southeast at 825 feet. The NationsBank professor of architecture and served on the building (today called the Bank of America Architectural Advisory Council. Hyatt Regency Hotel, Houston, TX. Courtesy of Evelyn Weingardt. continued on next page STRUCTURE magazine45 May 2012 ® Copyright Duncan Hall, Rice University, TX. Courtesy of Evelyn Weingardt. Prior to college, while attending Houston’s University in the College of Architecture Lamar High School, Walter, Jr. began dating and Department of Civil Engineering. Mary Ann Dillingham. She was a cheerleader He held the Thomas A. Bullock Endowed and he played guard on the school’s basket- Chair in Leadership and Innovation, and ball team, where his steady and dependable was director of both the Center for Building performance earned him the nickname Design and Construction and the Center “Rock.”magazine The pair became high school sweet- for Construction Education. Along with his S T Rhearts andU later married, C after sheT spent twoU duties R as a professor E of both architecture and years at Texas Christian University before engineering at Texas A&M and as chairman transferring to the University of Houston of WPM, Moore also served on the Board to complete her degree in English and of Directors of the CRS Center in Houston. education. The young couple then moved With his extensive background in the north to Urbana, Illinois, where Walter, Jr. design and construction industries, Moore earned a Master of Science and a Doctor of believed that, in addition to theoretical Philosophy in structural engineering at the analysis, future structural engineers and University of Illinois. architects needed exposure to actual design One Atlantic Center, Atlanta, GA. Courtesy of After receiving those advanced degrees, and construction issues. He said, “What I Wikimedia Commons-Magnus Manske. Moore served as a captain in the U.S. do is bring real world problems and lead- Army Corps of Engineers, then moved ership situations to the students. A&M back to Houston where he joined his was founded not to just educate engineers, father’s thriving consulting engineer- but to turn out leaders. That spirit seeps ing business. Moore’s entire career as a through into everything. Our students are consulting structural engineer was spent immersed in a wide range of outside activi- The easiest to use software for calculating with his dad’s firm, with all the plus- ties: church groups, engineering societies ses and minuses that come with being and the community. In my classes, part of www.STRUCTUREmag.org wind, seismic, snow and other loadings for IBC, ASCE7, and all state codes based on the son of the founder of the company. a student’s grade is dependent on his or her these codes ($195.00). He began at the bottom and moved up presentations skills and how well they can through all the necessary positions until communicate their solutions. They must Tilt-up Concrete Wall Panels ($95.00). he became president and chairman, just spend time outside the classroom develop- Floor Vibration for Steel Beams and Joists like his role-model father. ing these skills. Their grade depends on it.” ($100.00). In 1994, while remaining chairman Moore also opined that engineer- Concrete beams with torsion ($45.00). of the board, Moore relinquished ing education should be modified to be his position as president of WPM more in line with that of the schools ADVERTISEMENT - For Advertiser ADVERTISEMENT Information, visit Demos at: www.struware.com and accepted a distinguished profes- of architecture, law and medicine – a sorship in academia, at Texas A&M four-year undergraduate degree (with a STRUCTURE magazine46 May 2012 STRUCTURE magazine Moore was widely published and a sought- accident. He was survived by his wife Mary after speaker. He contributed his time and Ann; his children Walter P. Moore III and his talent to numerous academic institutions and wife Sarah, Melissa (Moore) Magee and her professional societies, serving on the national husband Michael, and Matthew D. Moore board of the American Concrete Institute and his wife Valerie; five grandchildren; and (ACI), as vice president of the American his brother Larry and his wife Lauris. Council of Engineering Companies Since Moore’s passing, a number of national (ACEC), and on the Executive Committee awards have been established in his name, of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban among them: SEI’s Walter P. Moore, Jr. Habitat (CTBUH). Award, SEAoT’s Walter P. Moore, Jr. Merit Other professional organizations in which Scholarship, and ACI’s Walter P. Moore, Jr. Moore was active included the American Faculty Achievement Award.▪ Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Society of American Military Engineers Richard G. Weingardt, P.E., Chairman, (SAME), the Consulting Engineers Council/ Richard Weingardt Consultants, Inc., Texas (CEC/T), the International Association ® Denver, CO. He is the author of nine books. of Bridge and Structural Engineers (IABSE), Two of his latest, Circles in the Sky: The Life the National Society of Professional Engineers and Times of George Ferris and Engineering (NSPE), and the Structural Engineers Legends, both published by ASCE Press, Association of Texas (SEAoT).

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