Richard Burt - mentor, advisor and friend of the CRGP community - passed away suddenly on March 26. Rick had been recently appointed as a consulting faculty member in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University.

In 2006 He retired last year from the Bechtel Group Inc. as senior vice president and general counsel. He also served as a member of the Bechtel Board of Directors. After retirement he followed his keen interest in the present and future of CRGP by accepting Stanford's offer to become a visiting scholar. His contributions and leadership quickly exceeded expectations for the position. In December 2006 Rick was appointed as a consulting faculty member.

Rick's career provided him with business and legal experience in the civil and environmental engineering industries and with global infrastructure development projects. Prior to joining Bechtel in 2002, Rick had a similar position at Asea Brown Boveri, Inc., the North American subsidiary of ABB Group of Zurich, Switzerland. He had previously served as a vice president and general counsel for Sandoz Corporation.

Rick was raised in Philadelphia and attended Gettysburg College and Dickenson School of Law. He is survived by his wife Susan and daughters Corinne and Julie. Shortly before retiring from Bechtel, he commented that retirement would be the best time of his life. With characteristic enthusiasm he looked forward to fishing in the Colorado Rockies while visiting his daughter Julie there and to doing research on making global projects work more effectively. He would have the best of both his worlds.

All of Rick's friends at Stanford offer heartfelt condolences to the family. Rick will be sorely missed for his friendship, advice, and scholarship by faculty, staff and students .

Posted by rjorr at April 2, 2007 12:32 AM