Ralph B. Peck, pictured in a 2004 photo taken in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by CEE graduate student Fernando Moreu.

Ralph B. Peck
1912 – 2008 

            Ralph B. Peck, Professor Emeritus of Foundation Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, died February 18 at his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  One of the most influential engineers of the 20th Century, Peck built a premiere geotechnical program in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois.
            Peck was born in Winnipeg, Canada, to his American parents, Orwin K. and Ethel Huyck Peck on June 23, 1912.  He earned a Civil Engineering degree in 1934 and a Doctor of Civil Engineering degree in 1937, both from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. 
            Peck was employed from 1937 to 1938 as a structural detailer for American Bridge Company.  During the 1938-39 academic year, he attended the Soil Mechanics course at Harvard University and was a laboratory assistant to Arthur Casagrande.  From 1939 to 1942, Peck was an assistant subway engineer for the City of Chicago, representing Karl Terzaghi, who was a consultant on the Chicago Subway Project.  He joined the faculty of the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1942, and was a Professor of Foundation Engineering from 1948 until his retirement as Professor Emeritus in 1974.  Through his work in building a premiere geotechnical program at the University of Illinois, Peck succeeded in fulfilling Karl Terzaghi’s hope for Peck “…to educate a generation of geotechnical engineers who retain common sense and their sense of proportion.”   
            After his retirement from Illinois, Peck moved to Albuquerque and continued his active consulting practice, which included jobs in 44 states in the United States and 28 countries on five continents. His more than 1,000 consulting projects included the rapid transit systems in Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington; the Alaskan Pipeline System; the James Bay Project in Quebec; and the Dead Sea dikes.  His last project was the Rion-Antirion Bridge in Greece.  It received the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) OPAL Outstanding Civil Engineering Award for 2005 and is the only project outside the United States to be so honored.
            Peck maintained his close association with the department faculty and students, returning to the University of Illinois twice a year to give a series of lectures.  In 1987 he was celebrated by his friends and former students with a Symposium at the University of Illinois on the Art and Science of Geotechnical Engineering at the Dawn of the 21st Century.  During the ASCE Geo-Institute Conference in 1999 at the University of Illinois, Peck was honored, and the first ASCE Peck Medal was awarded to Professor Don U. Deere.
            Peck’s lasting contributions to his field through publishing were significant.  In 1948, together with Karl Terzaghi, Peck co-authored the most influential textbook in geotechnical engineering, Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice.  A Third Edition of this book, with an additional co-author, CEE Professor Gholamreza Mesri, was published in 1996.  In 1953 with Walt Hanson and Tom Thornburn, Peck co-authored the widely used textbook Foundation Engineering.  He also authored more than 250 technical publications. 
            Peck served as the President of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering from 1969 to 1973.  In 1974, he was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Gerald R. Ford “for his development of the science and art of subsurface engineering, combining the contributions of the sciences of geology and soil mechanics with the practical art of foundation design.”  His other honors included the Norman Medal, the Wellington Prize, and the Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Education from the American Society of Civil Engineers.
            Peck’s life and work have been detailed in two books and a Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) publication.  Judgment in Geotechnical Engineering—The Professional Legacy of Ralph B. Peck was published in 1984 by John Dunnicliff and Don U. Deere.  The NGI Publication 207: Ralph B. Peck, Engineer, Educator, A Man of Judgment was edited by Elmo DiBiagio and Kaare Flaate for dedication in 2000 of the Peck Library next to the Terzaghi Library at NGI.  The most recent and detailed book about Peck is Ralph B. Peck, Educator and Engineer, The Essence of the Man, published in 2006 by John Dunnicliff and Nancy Peck Young.  These publications describe Peck’s life, education and work, including technical articles, students, professional offices, honors and awards, and more than 1000 consulting projects during his 50-year professional career.
           Peck married Marjorie E. Truby on June 14, 1937.  He is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Nancy Peck Young and Allen Young; son and daughter-in-law, James and Laurie Peck; and grandchildren, Michael Young and Maia Peck.
            In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to:           
            Ralph B. Peck Geotechnical Engineering Fund
            Univ. of Illinois Foundation
            1305 West Green Street, MC-386
            Urbana, Illinois, 61801.