My Sharing in the Memorial Service on Jun 27, 2012

I would like to say a few words in the memory of Bill Kennedy who was my mentor and friend in the last 27 years.

I first met Bill in our Hong Kong Office in 1985. He trained me in the use of Subway Environment Simulation (SES) Program. I was impressed by his expertise on tunnel ventilation. I remember he traveled to Hong Kong and worked over the weekend with a client in his hotel room to pursue a project for the longest tunnel in Hong Kong. He came up with a brighten ventilation scheme which reduced tunnel diameter, shortened construction time and saved millions of dollars. Because of his ventilation scheme, we won the project. Bill was always proud of his contributions to the success of our Hong Kong Office which grew from several staff to hundreds of professionals.

Besides working in Hong Kong, Bill worked in 19 countries around the world. He respected cultural differences more than anyone else that I know. For example, he brought us lunch every year to celebrate Chinese New Year. Even though he was sick this year, he tried to buy us lunch.  When he was the chairman of NFPA 130, he made sure the meetings will not conflict with religious or national holidays in the world.

If you know Bill, you knew he was a genius in numbers and dates. He was born with a “computer chip” with all important numbers or dates in this brain. He could easily tell you, such as Lincoln Tunnel was open to traffic in 1937, Mont Blanc Tunnel fire happened in 1999, or Tokyo nerve gas attack was in 1995, etc. He could convert IP Units to SI Units in his head. He also remembered some client’s birthday and sent them a note. He remembered surprisingly well on project details. He was just unbelievable.

In 1993, Bill helped me to transfer from Hong Kong to New York. I had the great opportunity to work closely with him and knew him firsthand. Over the years, I learned a lot from him. Let me share with you a few things:

1. He loved his company and staff, and fought for their rights.
2. He gained respects from clients, colleagues and friends.
3. He was genuine and honest. He had nothing to hind.
4. He strived for technical excellence and insisted on deliverables must be checked.
5. He merged practice and theory in the design of tunnel ventilation.

This is a big loss to all of us. This is a very sad day. I lost my friend and mentor. He represented the best of us in tunnel ventilation. I will miss him deeply.

Obituary

William D Kennedy, an internationally recognized expert on tunnel ventilation who was instrumental in the development of tunnel ventilation systems for road and rail tunnels worldwide, died on June 23 at the age of 69.

During a 46-year career with Parsons Brinckerhoff, Kennedy, a Vice President and Senior Engineering Manager, participated in the development of tunnel ventilation systems for public transit systems around the world.

Kennedy and a small group of Parsons Brinckerhoff colleagues were part of a joint venture team of Parsons Brinckerhoff, DeLeuw, Cather & Company, and Kaiser Engineers, that developed the Subway Environmental Design Handbook under contract to the US Department of Transportation in the early 1970s. As part of that project, Kennedy led the development of the Subway Environment Simulation (SES) software program. Now in its fifth version, SES allows engineers to mathematically model aspects of the subway environment on a second-by-second basis; it is considered the standard tool for the analysis and design of transit systems worldwide.

In the 1980s, Kennedy and his colleagues developed the concept of platform screen doors for the Singapore mass rapid transit system that prevented heat from the subway tunnels from entering station platforms. In the 1990s, Kennedy contributed to the development of SOLVENT, a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) fire-ventilation program for road tunnels.

Recently, Kennedy contributed to the development of ventilation systems for projects such as the extension of the No 7 subway line in New York City, the Purple Line subway in Los Angeles, the Delhi Metro, and rail and road tunnels in Istanbul.

In March of 2012, Kennedy received the prestigious 2012 Achievement Award at the Fifth International Symposium on Tunnel Safety and Security, which cited him for his “long and illustrious career in ventilation engineering of tunnels” and called his lifetime body of work “a shining example of wedding practice and theory in the design of tunnels.”

Kennedy, a registered professional engineer in three states, was active in a wide range of professional organizations, including the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers; the American Public Transportation Association; and the National Fire Protection Association. He was a member of the advisory board to the Columbia University Department of Mechanical Engineering since 2007, and he served as a member of the organizing committee of the International Symposia on the Aerodynamics and Ventilation of Vehicle Tunnels from 1985 through 2011. Kennedy received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Union College and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Columbia University.

Kennedy is survived by parents, Edward and Rae Kennedy; his wife, Patricia Kennedy; daughters Kathleen Kennedy and Sheila Miles, and four grandchildren.