Testimonies

"Peck the Grammarian" - " You Call Me Ralph"

I have known Dr. Ralph Peck for 31 years. The last several years, he and I met for lunch, attended the monthly Albuquerque Geotechnical Group meeting, and after the meeting we sat in his office, played with his poodle Ta…

— J.C. Lommler, Ph.D., P.E.

A Latin Lover?

At the 7th Pan-American Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering in Vancouver, Canada, June 1983. From left to right: Dr. Arnaldo Carrillo-Gil, Dr. Jorge Troncoso, Dr. H.B. Seed, Dr. Peck.Dr. Peck was lege…

— H. Parker, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE

Peck the Teacher: A Commanding Presence

Pursuing a BS in Civil Engineering from Illinois (1974) and looking for an interesting geotechnical course for spring semester, I found CE 484, Case Histories. Still a senior undergraduate, I needed department approval t…

— Mike Lewis, P.E., F.ASCE

A Master Lecturer

Dr Peck was my teacher at the University of Illinois beginning in September 1953.He made Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering "come alive." He was the master of geotechnical lecturers, as he aimed to teach at least …

— Ray Miller, Ray Miller, Ph.D. UIUC, 1965, 1965 Giving a lecture during the 3rd National Conference of the Geo-Institute at the University of Illinois in June 1999

The Best Instructor

I had joined UIUC for my graduate work in the fall of 1959. My dream was to work with Professor Peck, and I was happy that he accepted me without question. He was a human being of Godly qualities, in addition to being th…

— Shamsher Prakash, Ph.D., F.ASCE

A Loyal Professor

Studying at the University of Illinois, I was fortunate to meet with Dr. Ralph Peck and attend some of his very interesting lectures. The last time I met him was at the Geo-Denver 2007 Conference. I was very excited when…

— Abouzar Sadrekarimi

Peck the Mentor: Keep It Simple

I believe the year was 1985. I was a young professor at Texas A&M University and was excited to have been invited to speak in Albuquerque about some of my pressuremeter work. When checking the program, I saw that Profess…

— Jean-Louis Briaud, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE

The Ten-Minute Walk that Changed My Life

In 1965, walking out of a conference hall in Montreal, I saw Professor Peck walking away on the sidewalk. I rushed a little to catch up with him, only hoping to have a casual conversation. I told hime I just met Dr. Beng…

— Y.C. Gene Chang, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE

Always Have a Simple Backup

Dr. Peck officiated a Symposium Downdrag on Piles at MIT in the early 1970s. I was helping a fellow graduate research assistant, Sam, with his research project. An excavation was made below an abandoned pile-supported br…

— Kenneth L. Recker, P.E

A gracious man: Always Accessible

Dr. R.B. Peck, with whom I shared a sincere friendship, was an assiduous attendant at the meetings with Latin-American geotechnical specialists. We were lucky to meet and discuss with Dr. Peck on two opportunities during…

— Arnaldo Carrillo-Gi, Dr. Eng., P.E., F.ASCE

A Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity

The Peck Library at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) was opened in May 2000 by Ralph B. Peck. When this was announced, we decided it would be appropriate to mark the occasion with a publication about him. A ple…

— Elmo DiBiagio and Kaare Flaate, Ph.D.

The "Deprovincialization" of Mel Esrig and Laurie Kennedy

It was 1959 when Ralph Peck, D.J.L. (Laurie) Kennedy, and I travelled by train from Champaign, IL to Tulsa, OK for a meeting with Creole Oil Company on the subsidence problems resulting from oil extraction in Lake Marica…

— Melvin I. Esrig, Ph.D., P.E.

The Chocoholic

Ralph Peck was a human being just like you and me! And like most of us, lie loved food. He was a chocolate lover: "If it is not chocolate, it is not dessert!" was his standard reply at dessert time. Ralph would sometimes…

— Suzanne Lacasse, D.Sc., P.E., F.ASCE

They Always Treated Him Like Family

As a new engineering graduate in 1993, I remember working on a landslide litigation project in east Oahu, where Ralph Peck was deposed. His deposition was very short, stating basically that his opinion from a 1950s repor…

— Mathew Francis, P.E.

Thank You Ralph

Dr. Ralph Peck was a huge influence on my career, especially during the past 14 years. Although I was not one of Ralph's students, his prolific technical publications, conference lectures, and our many personal discussio…

— Garry H. Gregory, Ph.D., P.E.

Always Ready to Listen and Learn

Dr. Peck worked for some 40 years as an expert consultant on hydro projects in Quebec. In particular, he worked on the La Grande Project in Northern Quebec for the last 30 years. There are many incidents showing his kind…

— Jerry Levay

Choosing to Help a New Engineer

A few years after graduating as a geotechnical engineer, I was sent to a site in Okinawa to conduct field explorations for an offshore airfield adjacent to a Marine base. After returning, I was asked to present a talk ab…

— Robert G. Lukas, P.E.

He was Good Company

I didn't know Dr. Peck well, although I'd spoken with him briefly on many occasions over the years. I recall an extended conversation during a reception at Geo-Support 2004 in Orlando, FL when he reminded me that he had …

— Jay Padgett, P.E., F.ASCE

A Regular Guy: Ralph at the Podium - Always the Master of the Situation

The highlight of the 19th Central Pennsylania Geotechnical Conference program in Hershey, PA, May 2002, was "Dinner with Dr. Ralph B. Peck: Geotechnics - Foundations for the Rion Bridge, Greece."The very large banquet ro…

— Jim Mitchell, Ph.D., P.E., Hon.M.ASCE

Only He Spelled It 'Dam'

My great-grandfather was a circuit-riding preacher and held revival meetings in the Dakotas in the late 1800s and early 1900s. My grandparents were teetotalers and would not even allow any kind of card playing in the hou…

— Nancy Peck Young