Former Texas Section president H. Douglas Steadman, the engineer behind many of San Antonio’s modern landmarks including the Alamodome, has died at 91.
Over the course of a 50-year career, Steadman, P.E., L.S., F.ASCE, oversaw the structural and civil engineering of the Lila Cockrell Theater for the Performing Arts, development of the San Antonio International Airport, the San Antonio Municipal Auditorium, and restoration of the Hays Street Bridge, among many other works.
A Texas grocery store giant, H-E-B, entrusted its entire site development and structural engineering to his oversight for over 30 years, and its owner even had Steadman restore his historic lighthouse on Lydia Ann Channel.
At W.E. Simpson, Steadman progressed from apprentice engineer to design engineer to the company’s chief engineer and administrative vice president. He was named executive vice president in 1979, president in 1985, and was chairman of the board at his retirement in 1992.
The ASCE Life Member’s tenure with the Texas Section included a term as president in 1991-92. Steadman also was active in the Texas Society of Professional Engineers and the Structural Engineers Risk Management Council. He was a distinguished engineer of the Texas Engineering Foundation and a distinguished alumnus of the University of Texas at Austin’s Cockrell School of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, where he earned a master’s degree.
Steadman was a mentor to many students, both at the professional and the elementary school level. As a member of the San Antonio Conservation Society, he won its 2002 Conservation Historic Preservation Award for helping to restore the city’s popular Hays Street Bridge.
