Ewing Berkley Traughber

Ewing Berkley Traughber, brilliant engineer, extravagant raconteur, and ferocious critic of "trifling jacklegs," died in his home state of Kentucky on February 5, 2023. Berkley grew up in Elkton, KY, where he and his siblings lived both in The Hotel Jefferson Davis and on the family farm with their parents Ewing Lafayette Traughber and Laurie Evelyn Traughber. Berkley and his brothers worked from a young age raising wheat, corn, soybeans, hay, and tobacco, along with hogs and cattle. Berkley's mechanical genius arose from years of operating and repairing machinery of all kinds, from 1920s-era tractors to the '51 Buick. He fed, wrangled, and assisted in the births of scores of animals. He loved baby pigs. Berkley received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Civil Engineering from Ole Miss, returning often to the farm to harvest tobacco, hunt quail, and pick up hay. During the Vietnam war, he worked at Boeing and McDonnell Douglas on the design and dynamics of the Saturn V Launch Vehicle and the Gemini B Space Capsule, respectively. He earned his Ph.D from Stanford University, with a full fellowship from the National Science Foundation. Invited to join both MIT's faculty and UNO's fledgling Engineering Department, Berkley made the obvious choice. He arrived in New Orleans in 1974, where in addition to teaching structural mechanics, he embraced French Quarter life, befriending characters such as Uncle Joe of the Napoleon house and Ruthie the Duck Lady. He was an enthusiastic Cajun dancer and adored long lunches at Galatoire's. Tiring quickly of academia, Berkley incorporated EBT & Associates, a civil, structural, and geotechnical engineering firm, in 1978. The scope of his expertise was amazing. Berkley was consulting engineer in litigation stemming from the 1982 Pan Am crash in Kenner, LA. He designed and coordinated construction of the Harvey Pumping Station and surrounding flood protection structures. During Hurricane Juan in 1985, Berkley directed massive emergency efforts-commandeering heavy equipment and concrete barriers-to repair Harvey Canal and V-Line Levee breaches and overtopping failures caused by record tidal surges. As "everything with eyeballs" crowded onto the only remaining dry land, Berkley's coordination prevented the flooding of over 25,000 homes. In 1998, during Tropical Storm Frances, his direction again prevented levee breaches. Berkley coordinated countless projects in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes, including the Aquarium of the Americas foundation, the Bayou Segnette emergency floodwall, and the Marsh Creation project in Lafitte, LA. He managed the Olmsted Dam Subsurface Investigation on the Ohio River, the largest Corps of Engineers project in history. By the early 2000s, frustrated by bureaucratic obstacles that left canals and neighborhoods vulnerable, he ceased consulting with Jefferson Parish. Asked what they would do without him, Berkley replied, "You're gonna drown." For nearly two decades thereafter, fueled by his intolerance for corruption and incompetence, he made a formidable, and exceedingly well-dressed, expert witness. Berkley also was an avid student of history, able to discourse authoritatively on Civil War battles, Jesse James, Kentucky, World War II, New Orleans politics, wine making, hog butchering, internal combustion engines, the history and manufacture of firearms, and mules. He was a charming and jolly host, regaling friends with tales of his hometown, of his old-maid aunts and gunslinger grandfather. He was an expert marksman, an ardent photographer, and a fine cook. Indeed, EBT excelled in every area, except for humility and the ability to read social cues. Those who knew Berkley well, knew never to ask him an open-ended question toward the end of a meal. He will be sorely missed. Berkley is survived by his wife Susan Bergman; his brothers Brent and Gary Traughber and their wives Phyllis and Fran; and by his beloved nieces and nephews. Memorial events in Elkton, KY, and in New Orleans, will be held at a later date. Signature gin and tonics will of course be served.