Richard F. Grambow

Richard F. Grambow Mr. Grambow died at his home in Medford, OR, on November 21, 2006. He was born in New York City on July 20, 1916. He attended Public School No. 6 and Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, and received a bachelor of science degree in naval architecture and marine engineering from Webb Institute in 1937. He spent five years at the New York Navy yard Scientific Section as an associate naval architect, where his principal responsibilities included heading the group that performed the detailed structural calculations for the battleships North Carolina and Iowa class. He also was in charge of stability calculations for all vessels converted to wartime service at the yard. In July of 1942 he moved to Sausalito, CA, to join the Marinship Corporation, a World War II emergency shipyard, designed, constructed and operated by the Bechtel organization. He was chief engineer and naval architect and a member of the five man operating committee that ran the yard on a day-to-day basis. Marinship built 15 Liberty Ships and 78 tankers and at its peak employed over 20,000 employees. At the end of the war, in mid 1954, Mr. Grambow joined the Bechtel Corporation in San Francisco as a job engineer, subsequently becoming division chief engineer and executive engineer with the responsibilities for the development of all oversees and domestic power, industrial, chemical, refinery, and mining projects. His career in Bechtel is best summarized by the following excerpt from a testimonial resolution by the board of directors: "His skills in management of international projects were amply demonstrated on the huge Palabora Complex where as project manager, he upheld the Bechtel tradition for bringing jobs in ahead of schedule and under budget." In 1966 he was appointed manager of operations for the new International Power, Industrial and Metals Division and elected a vice president of Bechtel Corporation in 1968. Dick continued to contribute to Bechtel's growth as vice president and manager of international mining and metals operations for their IPIM and Mining and Metals divisions. His management responsibilities included Australia's Mount Newman and Robe River iron ore and copper projects, a nickel project in the Philippines and copper projects in Bougainville and Irian Jaya in the South Pacific. During this time he also made substantial and innovative contributions in the field of cost estimating and control for oversees projects. Dick Grambow became manager of Commercial Building and Land Operations in 1972 to utilize his international experience in yet another Bechtel field. In the succeeding three years his management talents were applied to hotel and commercial building projects in England, West Germany, Zambia, Dubai, Nigeria, USSR, Panama, Brazil, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Czechoslovakia and the Philippines. With his wealth of oversees experience, Dick's forthrightness, acumen and professional approach have won him the respect and appreciation of clients in many nations. Mr. Grambow served as a planning commissioner in Sausalito, CA, a senior citizens commissioner in San Juan County, WA, and vice president of the Lions Club in Lopez, WA. He was a past member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society of Mining Engineers, and a life member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers. He was a founding member of the World Trade and a member of the Engineers Club in San Francisco. He is survived by his wife Dreda of Medford, OR, and three sons, Richard F. Jr., of Napa, CA, David of Yountville, CA, and Steven and wife Holly of Durham, NC. Also survived by two grandchildren, Grayden of Durham, NC, and Mary of Napa, CA. At his request, private family services will be held.