Remembering Don Bergmann

I must have been one of several people hired twice by Don Bergmann.  First for Erdman & Anthony, and then for Bergmann Associates.   Even before he first hired me, he had worked for several years with my father who also worked for Erdman & Anthony.  They carpooled weekdays to work at Erdman & Anthony.  Even while I was in high school and then when I was in my college years, Don would be either checking in with me on what I was doing, and I recall at one point him visiting me and my father at our home.  My parents and Don and Barbara lived in Chili probably less than a mile apart.  Don’s interest in me and what I was doing in my younger years made a big and positive impression on me.

When I completed my engineering studies at Clarkson in 1977, the employment market was still pretty dismal, but I had offers from Erdmann & Anthony and with Harza Engineering Company.  Although the allure of joining an international water resources engineering company was pretty strong, so was Don’s enthusiasm, so I joined Erdmann & Anthony, which at the time was in a pretty strong growth mode and had some good projects going on.

One of Don’s many firsts was somehow winning a section of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor Improvement Project, this between Harold Yard and New Rochelle, NY. One day he calls me over and spends about 30 minutes orienting me to the track realignment work that was needed to increase the travel speeds on the corridor.  We didn't have a track engineer, but I was about to become one.  He gave me a very brief explanation of spiral curve geometry (which I knew nothing about) and pointed me to the highway designers if I needed to find out more.  If he had any inclination that I was clueless, he sure didn’t show it. So here I was at 24 or 25 years of age, in charge of realigning 17 miles of track (some on bridge and some on viaduct) with dozens of spiral curves to improve the operating speed, and hardly knowing where to begin.  But it was those kind of experiences with Don that formed how I would approach other projects that I started work on that I knew little about.  One day we were on site, walking the track alignment, which took us to the viaduct that includes the iconic Hell Gate Arch Bridge over the East River.  Don, being a structural engineer, was particularly interested the bridge, so we entered one of the west towers, climbed up the staircase inside tower, and opened the door that was just above the top chord of the arch.  I am scared to death of heights but each of us walked out onto the upper chord a short distance while the other of us took a photo.  Walking out into that uncomfortable spot was what working for Don Bergmann was like.  Once I got over the fears, challenging myself became a way of life for me. 

Don was one of those unique people who went against the typical grain.  For most people “seeing is believing”.  For Don, and those he inspired, “believing is seeing”.  He constantly put me and others in those places that were uncomfortable for us, but with enthusiasm and inspiration alone, helped us to believe in ourselves.  I've seen first hand a rewarding and joyous career because I learned from Don to believe in myself.