News & Events

EULOGY for Professor Gary C. Hart
Time:2017-11-01 

ILEE announces the death of Professor Gary C. Hart.

Dr. Gary C. Hart, an International Joint Research Laboratory of Earthquake Engineering (ILEE) professor, passed away in Marina Del Ray, California on October 21, 2017. He received his undergraduate degree in civil engineering from USC in 1965 and his graduate degrees from Stanford University in 1966 and 1968.

Prof. Gary C. Hart joined the faculty at UCLA in 1968 and served in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering until he retired in 2001, after which he worked full time as a consulting engineer. At the time of his death, he was serving as Principal Emeritus at Thornton Tomasetti, Inc: a US-based, internationally recognized, consulting practice. Dr. Hart was known as an innovative thinker in a number of areas related to structural dynamics, including wind and earthquake engineering, characterization of structural damping, and performance of seismically isolated structures. Prof. Hart authored several textbooks, including “Structural Dynamics for Structural Engineers”. He was the founding editor of the archival journal, “The Structural Design of Tall and Special Buildings”, and was the founding president of the Los Angeles Tall Buildings Structural Design Council. Dr. Hart contributed to the the design of a number of notable buildings, including the Rockwell Building in Seal Beach (ASCE Building of the Year), Los Angeles City Hall, Wiltern Theater, and Kerckhoff and Royce Halls on the UCLA campus. Dr. Hart received the ASCE Walter Huber Award in 1981 and the ASCE  Ernest Howard Award in 1993.

Prof. Gary Hart collaborated with colleagues with Tongji University for a number of decades. In 2016, in recognition of his contributions and engagement with Tongji, he was named an ILEE professor. We are saddened by his passing and are grateful for his contributions to the practice of structural, wind and earthquake engineering. His work will impact ILEE and its research programs for decades to come.