Lemley

Jack Kenneth Lemley was born in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho, on January 2, 1935. He passed away in Boise, Idaho, surrounded by his wife Pam of 35 years and members of his family on November 29, 2021, from natural causes. He was 86 years old.

"All I ever wanted to do from the time I was a small boy was build big things," he said in a 2013 interview with the Idaho Statesman, the Boise newspaper.

Born to parents Kenneth and Dorothy, he worked beginning at age 15 for the Idaho Transportation Department, firing his interest in engineering and construction projects. The work would steady him all the way through college at the University of Idaho, where he earned a degree in architecture in 1960.

He admitted in the same Statesman interview that architecture wasn’t for him. “I would have made a terrible architect,” he said. Instead, his career would take him to 65 countries over more than a half-century of work.

His career began in 1960 in San Francisco with the Guy F. Atkinson Company. The engineering assignment saw him supervising the construction of 25 miles of underground water tunnels beneath New York City as well as the construction of Interstate 5 through downtown Seattle. Both projects represented a preview of things to come in Jack’s brilliant career.

He landed in Boise in 1977 with the Morrison-Knudsen engineering firm as executive vice president in charge of heavy construction and was soon halfway around the world serving as general manager of the King Khalid Military City in Saudi Arabia, a $1.3 billion project. He saw more underground water tunnel work in New York as well.

He later worked for Blount Construction Group and Transmanche Link (TML). In 1989, Jack was asked to take charge of the $12 billion Channel Tunnel project linking England with France through a 31-mile underground railroad. For three years, the project had seen little progress and lots of trouble 140 feet below the bed of the English Channel. Jack was hired to fix it and that he did! In 1990, Jack was the third person to ride through the completed crossing. The Chunnel was the most sophisticated, highest capacity rail system in the world. Queen Elizabeth saw to it that Jack was appropriately honored for his amazing contributions to the world-renowned project and named him with the honorary title of Commander of the British Empire. In 1991, ENR recognized him with its Man of the Year Award.

From 1995 to 2002, he was CEO of U.S. Ecology. He moved the Houston-based firm that specialized in the disposal of hazardous waste, to Boise.

Although chosen to head the construction efforts for the 2012 London Olympics, he deemed it best to move on and he began consulting for the Big Dig, the massive project in Boston to improve traffic flow through that city.

He has been honored many times. He is the recipient of the Golden Beaver Award, the Distinguished Award of Merit from the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Construction Management Award. He is a member of many professional organizations, including The Moles, the American Arbitration Association, the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME), the U.S. Committee on Large Dams, the Institute of Civil Engineers, and the ASCE. He was elected to the National Academy of Construction in 2004, cited for “a career built on ‘hands on’ management of mega design-build projects and innovations in dispute resolution.”

Jack retired in 2012 as principal and director of Lemley & Associates, his managing-consulting firm in Boise. He was recognized by his home state with induction into the Idaho Hall of Fame (1997) and the Hall of Fame of Idaho Technology Council (2011).

He truly was one of the icons of the Heavy Construction Industry, respected by all who were fortunate to have known and worked with/for him. Even to those who never had the opportunity to meet him, he was recognized around the globe as an industry leader.

Thomas J. Groark  NAC

former Morrison Knudsen Project Engineer during the 1970’s