The steel design community suffered a huge loss Thursday when Leslie E. Robertson, whose career came to be defined by his work on the World Trade Center, died following a diagnosis of blood cancer.
“Les had such a cordial influence on others, including for me personally,” said Charles J. Carter, SE, PE, PhD, president of the American Institute of Steel Construction.
“I first met him as an undergraduate student when he agreed to meet for a morning to discuss his recently completed Bank of China building. He made the whole concept of the building lateral system clear to me (as a student!) in about 20 minutes with just a few sketches and a brilliantly simple physical experiment that proved he found a creative way to eliminate column bending.”