PEOPLE & COMPANIES George P. Kelley, one of the founding members of Langan, recently died. During his 48 years with Langan, he served as managing principal and as chairman of the board from 2005 to 2015. He was a pragmatic and talented engineer and a mentor to many. He is survived by his wife, Barbara, his three children and four grandchildren. Kelley graduated from Duke University with a B.S. degree in civil engineering in 1965, and then served as a construction engineer with the Navy Seabees from 1965 to 1967. He then went on to Purdue University, where he earned an M.S. degree in civil engineering in 1968. In 1970, Kelley and two other engineers – George Derrick and Dennis Leary – joined Bernie Langan to start Langan Engineering. From its very beginning in Clifton, N.J., the firm took on projects with complex regulatory issues and challenging subsurface conditions, quickly building its reputation for “technical excellence, practical experience and client responsiveness.” Kelley touched many of the region’s urban areas throughout New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, where he literally affected the future by leading the redevelopment of dozens of elementary and high schools and colleges and was well-known as an advocate for community welfare through development. Kelley served as a valued mentor to many Langan employees, and his wisdom, knowledge and guidance were appreciated by all. His commitment to Langan employees is underscored annually with the “George P. Kelley Empowerment Award,” which is given to an employee who demonstrates leadership results through empowerment. Michael M. McHugh, former executive vice president at Moretrench, passed away suddenly on August 3 at 59 years old. He is survived by his wife, Valerie Lacey, two children, three stepchildren and seven siblings. McHugh was a gentle giant, a family man who made time to reach out to countless people, an inspiration to tomorrow’s engineers and a supportive colleague. He was born and raised in Yonkers, New York, and chose to stay close to home, attending Manhattan College and joining Moretrench immediately after graduation in 1980. He was instrumental in growing the company’s business and client base in New York, setting up its Yonkers office in 2000 and running it until his appointment to executive vice president in 2015. After his family, McHugh’s passion was encouraging engineering students to grow and flourish in their chosen careers. He served as co-chair of Manhattan College’s mentoring program and was a member of its advisory board for the civil engineering department. McHugh was a trustee of The Moles and a long-time integral part of the education committee. He was also an ACE mentor, a member of several committees for the General Contractors Association of New York (GCA), and past president and director of the Lower Hudson Valley branch of ASCE. In 2015, he was the Special Guest Speaker at the DFI Educational Trust Gala. Helen D. Robinson, P.E., was promoted to branch manager of GEI Con- sultants’ Exton, Pa. office. Robinson joined GEI in April 2017 as a senior project manager. She has more than 15 years of design and construct ion experience across the U.S. and provides engineering services and project and construction management for geo- structural designs. Her experience includes design of micropiles, tiebacks, soil nails, drilled shafts, driven piles, sheet pile cofferdams, retaining walls, braced excavation support, ground improvement methods and shallow foundations. Her professional experience also includes site investigations (boreholes, test pits), soil classification, laboratory testing, load testing field support and interpretation, and instrumentation. Robinson currently serves as an at-large trustee for the DFI Educational Trust and was the inaugural chair of the DFI Women in Deep Foundations (WiDF) Committee from 2015-2018. From 2014-2017, she served as executive editor of DFI’s Deep Founda- tions magazine. She is the chair of the technical program for the International Society for Micropile’s (ISM) International Workshop on Micropiles in August 2019. She received B.S. and M.S. degrees in civil engineering from Penn State University and has authored or co-authored over 20 publications and 10 magazine features on practical technological applications and design in geotechnical engineering. Champion Equipment Company was named the exclusive Western distributor for a full range of Kennametal bits, teeth and blocks along with pullers and wearbars. As Kennametal’s new distributor for foundation drilling and specialty wear products, Champion covers all of Arizona, California, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii. 122 • DEEP FOUNDATIONS • SEPT/OCT 2018
