Bruce Olsen
Lifetime Service Award 2002, Engineer of the Year 1982, Honorary MemberFebruary 2, 1914 - August 31, 2002
Born in St. Paul Minnesota, Bruce Charles Olsen earned a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Washington in 1935 and accepted a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army Engineers. He worked in private practice, then went on active duty in World War II in the European Theater with the Pathfinders 1942-46. He remained active in the Reserve Officers Association, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1974.
Following his return to private practice in 1946, he created structural design for the Mount Hood Timberline Lodge (now a national monument), many bridges for the US Forest Service throughout the Pacific Northwest, as well as military construction in Alaska. In the postwar period, he participated in development of the Seattle Public Safety Building and an addition to the University of Washington stadium. In 1959 he and Dean Ratti established Olsen/Ratti in Seattle, which in 1977 became Olsen, Ratti & Fossatti.
His projects include many local landmarks such as the Boeing Airplane Company's Building 201, in 1954 Seattle's first major prestressed concrete structure; the Snohomish County Courthouse and the Snohomish County Administrative Building; 62 remote gate-valve control stations for the Alaska pipeline; freight terminal and maintenance facilties for Superior Fast Freight in Renton; replacement of Docks 3 and 4 at Fishermen's Terminal for the Port of Seattle; and the iconic Hat 'n' Boots. Bruce retired from engineering practice in 2000.Bruce's SEAW service included chairing the Professional Relations and Ethics Committee and the Lateral Forces Committee, where he made "a significant contribution to the development of modern building code seismic provisions." SEAW honored him as the first recipient of both the SEAW Lifetime Service Award and the Engineer of the Year, citing "his maintenance of the highest standards of structural engineering and his outstanding contributions to SEAW."A Life Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, he served as President of ASCE's Seattle Section, as a member of the ASCE/SEAOC Committee on Seismic Forces, and as Chair of the Structures Group for the Seattle Section. An Honorary Member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, he also served on the EERI Board of Directors. He took an active role in projects undertaken by the Applied Technology Council, serving on the Board and as President of ATC.
Posted April 2012