Walter Blessey, Tulane University engineering professor, dies at 90 Times Picayune 02-22-2010 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Walter Blessey, a member of Tulane University's engineering faculty for 42 years who also designed overpasses and wharves and was an adviser on the construction of the Louisiana Superdome, died Wednesday at Christwood Retirement Community in Covington. He was 90. A lifelong resident of the New Orleans area, Mr. Blessey moved to Christwood with his wife, Ruth Peterson Blessey, after Hurricane Katrina's floods destroyed their home in Lakewood South. She died in 2008. Mr. Blessey, who earned undergraduate and master's degrees in civil engineering at Tulane, joined the engineering faculty as an assistant professor of experimental engineering in 1942, just before receiving a commission in the Navy's Civil Engineering Corps. During World War II, Mr. Blessey was plans officer for the commander of naval construction troops on Okinawa. He returned to Tulane after the conflict. In 1956, he was appointed a professor, and he became chairman of the civil engineering department in 1959. He held that position until he retired in June 1984. As the result of an initiative by 350 former students in 38 states, Tulane's Civil Engineering Building was renamed Walter E. Blessey Hall in June 2002. Two years later, he was elected to the Louisiana Engineering Society's Wall of Fame. The society had given him its James M. Todd Technological Accomplishment Medal in 1975. Besides being a teacher and an administrator, Mr. Blessey was an active consultant for bridges, wharves and buildings throughout the South, including the Superdome, West Jefferson Medical Center, the Canal Boulevard underpass, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. Among his projects was the development of long cylindrical concrete piles. He also was a pioneer in the design of the all-welded overpass. Mr. Blessey traveled extensively to deliver lectures, not only in the United States but also in Central and South America and China. He was a former national president of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The New Orleans affiliate gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996. Mr. Blessey was named the College of Engineering's outstanding alumnus in 1979, and he received a Special Citation Award from the American Institute of Steel Construction's Board of Directors in recognition of his "outstanding contribution to the fabricated-steel industry." Mr. Blessey was elected to two honorary engineering societies, Tau Beta Pi and Chi Epsilon, and to Omicron Delta Kappa, the honorary society for campus leaders. He was a former president of the New Orleans Country Club, a former member of the Orleans Levee Board and the Salvation Army Advisory Board. He was a former director of First Financial Bank and chairman of the board of Munholland United Methodist Church, and he was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Pickwick Club and the Royal Society of St. George, an organization for people who love all things English. Survivors include a son, Walter Blessey Jr.; two grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. A funeral was held Monday at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home. Burial was in Metairie Cemetery.