In Memoriam—Diego Echeverry

Diego Echeverry, founder and director of the Construction Engineering and Management Graduate Area in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia, was killed by a stray bullet on August 24, 2008, as he drove home from the University. This tragedy came as a shock to many of us who had worked with Diego over the years, had simply been associated with him in some way, or had just had a chance to know him as a person.

Dr. Echeverry earned his bachelor of science in civil engineering from the Universidad de los Andes in 1980. He then came to the United States and completed both a master of science (1985) and Ph.D. (1991) in civil engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After graduation from Illinois, he returned to Colombia to accept a position as an assistant professor of civil engineering at the Universidad de los Andes. In 1994, he was appointed as an associate professor at the Universidad de los Andes. He maintained his relationship with the University of Illinois by returning in the summers of 1996, 1997, and 1998 as a visiting associate professor. In 1998, he founded and became the leader of the Construction Engineering and Management Research Group (CIGEC) at his University. The CIGEC center was dedicated to low-income housing research and various areas related to improving construction productivity. In 2007, Diego was invited to submit a paper about the work of this center for the special 50th anniversary issue of the Journal (see “Affordable Housing in Latin America: Improved Role of the Academic Sector in the Case of Colombia,” Vol. 133, No. 9, pp. 684–689).

Professor Echeverry was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and had served as a reviewer for the Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering and the Journal of Infrastructure Systems. Additionally, he was a member of the editorial committee and technical reviewer for Revista Ingeniería de Construcción (Construction Engineering Journal) of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Our friend was a leader in the community of construction researchers and teachers who helped many in both North and South America.

We at the Del E. Webb School of Construction feel a special loss because Diego spent the summer of 2003 with us as a visiting eminent scholar. He brought a special enthusiasm for construction to our students, and, in his charismatic manner, he mentored many of the faculty. I plead my deep sorrow at his passing; he was a friend who greatly influenced my teaching both in the United States and in South America. He was a man who always gave freely of his time. It was in his nature to help others to succeed, and his encouragement will be sorely missed.