Ted E. Webster, a geotechnical engineer with such an affinity for soils that he “loved dirt,” as his most recent employer put it, has died. He was 73.
A consummate professional, among the many projects to his credit is the Edgewater Pier, a seasonal beach on Lake Erie, which he designed during his tenure as president of his company, Webster Engineering Associates. Most recently, he was principal engineer for Geotech Services Inc., a designer of soil and rock anchors, micropiles, soil nails and soil-nail walls, grouting and other forms of soil stabilization.
Webster, P.E., M.ASCE, had extensive experience analyzing soil and concrete issues and designing structural stabilization solutions. His love of soils began as a teenager working on his grandfather’s farm, which he parlayed into a geotechnical engineering education and a career of five decades.
A licensed professional engineer in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, Webster led his own geotechnical/structural engineering consulting firm for 22 years after stints with Master Builders (now BASF) and the Lee Truzillo Construction Company. Webster Engineering Associates, which also did analysis and design, was later acquired by SECOR International and Webster became owner and principal engineer of Technical Engineering & Design.
But it was with Geotech, which he joined in 2006, that he got back to working on a daily basis with soil and rock-related structures. Indeed he was recently telling the profession that he was enjoying his work too much to retire. Challenging engineering projects, especially novel ones, kept him going.
Webster was an active member of ASCE, ASTM, the American Concrete Institute, the Post-Tensioning Institute, the Deep Foundations Institute and the International Association of Foundations. He was one of the founders of the Northeast Ohio chapter of ACI.
He received his bachelor of science and and master of science degrees in civil engineering from the University of Michigan.
