Harvey Robert Dodd

Honorary Member 2006, Engineer of the Year 1986, SEAW President 1970, SEAW Seattle President 1968
Early in his life Harvey R. Dodd (1922-2012) excelled in sports as captain of his high school basketball team; later he played basketball and baseball into his 40s, and excelled at golf with 5 lifetime holes-in-one.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Harvey helped as a civilian in salvaging US ships, and then enlisted in the Navy Submarine Service.  Assigned to a submarine tender ship, he spent WWI on Midway Island.

Prior to receiving a degree in Civil Engineering from UW in 1951, Harvey spent several years in the construction industry.  He supervised steel construction on two 14-story buildings in Anchorage.  After graduation, he worked with an engineering firm in consultation to the US government on bases in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, and then with John Graham & Co. as civil and structural designer on regional shopping centers.  In 1955 he joined the structural plan review division of the Seattle Building Department.   

In 1960 he started his own structural firm in Seattle, which became known as Harvey R. Dodd & Associates, employing engineers including Frank Hofmeister and Joseph Bozick, and also architects.  They designed commercial buildings, apartment buildings and gas stations and did forensic insurance investigation work.   Notable structures on which he worked include the College of Forestry Building and other projects for the UW, and the Psychology Building at Central Washington College, Ellensburg.

Harvey consulted on the design of the foundation of the Space Needle for the Seattle World's Fair, and later the Kingdome.  He built a strong reputation as a hardworking, honest businessman.  For 10 years he served on the State of Washington Board of Registration for Civil Engineers, and also as a member of the National Conference of Engineering Examiners, where he participated in preparing the first National Structural Licensing Exam for Structural Engineers. 

Posted March 2012