Building A Legacy
Former civil engineer Maurice Greenberg is honored by Wayne State University
for his role in helping design some of Detroit's construction marvels.
MARTY NIEDBALA SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
S
pelled out in a 45-page construct some of the more fa- designing and building airports,
vitae, the engineering mous engineering and construc- shipyards and harbors.
career of Maurice Green- tion marvels in the last
"My entire 19 years with Par-
berg is monumental in it- half-century.
sons is a highlight," Mr. Green-
self
In Detroit, his name is forev- berg said. "We were always on
"I wrote a 50-word paragraph er linked with most of the Civic the leading edge. Many of the
describing each project I worked Center development — the Vet- projects cost millions and billions
on," Mr. Greenberg explained erans Memorial Building, Cobo of dollars."
from his home in suburban Los Hall and Convention Center, the
Among them are projects like
Angeles about the expanded ver- City-County Building and Ford the Space Shuttle runways at
sion of his resume.
Auditorium.
the Kennedy Space Center in
From England to Detroit to a
He also used his knowledge to Florida and Edwards and Van-
denberg Air Force bases in Cali-
fornia, and airports in Indonesia
on South Pacific islands that
Mr. Greenberg's and
expanded the commerce and
trade of those regions.
work was in
He designed a water plant in
geotechnical
Cairo, Egypt, and the Prudhoe
Bay project on Alaska's north
engineering.
slope. That project features a
mile-long dock because of the
shallow confines of the harbor.
"They wouldn't have built the
extension if I hadn't told the chief
contractor, 'You can't get the
barges to the dock. So, you've got
to take the dock to the barges,"
Mr. Greenberg said.
Like his career work, Mr.
Greenberg is proud of his lifelong_
avocation for traveling. It has
taken him across the country and
Maurice Greenberg (left).
the world.
The Detroit riverfront (below).
Wye always been
a traveler. (His
wife) Selma and I
make films of our
trips and show
them to fraternal
and B'nai B'rith
groups," Mr. Green-
berg said.
Aptly,
Mr.
Greenberg's engi-
neering career be-
gan on foreign soil.
He became inter-
worldwide stage, Mr. Greenberg advance the techniques in me- ested and learned about soil sci-
is proud of his accomplishments chanical underground excava- ences after World War II in
as a civil engineer in a career tions. He helped build several England. After returning to De-
which ended with his retirement underground parking garages troit in 1946, he spent a year
in 1985.
and more than 50 miles of sewer working with his father's engi-
Mr. Greenberg's alma mater, tunnels in Detroit, as well as a neering firm, Joseph Greenberg
Wayne State University, recent- 12,000-foot seawall that straight- & Co.
ly inducted him into its Hall of ened out a portion of the Detroit
Building things seems to be in
Fame and he received a distin- River.
Mr. Greenberg's blood. His
guished alumnus award from the
"I was in on all those things," grandfather, Isaac Greenberg,
College of Engineering.
Mr. Greenberg said about his was a founding member of Con-
"The award legitimizes 50 tenure with the city, which last- gregation Shaarey Zedek.
years of leading-edge engineer- ed from 1949 to 1965.
Mr. Greenberg's father also is
ing," Mr. Greenberg said.
After a year of working with linked to Detroit history. He was
Mr. Greenberg's work was in the state of Indiana to conduct a serving as assistant engineer
the area of geotechnical engi- study of its future highway in Wayne, County when the
neering, a branch of civil engi- needs, Mr. Greenberg went to first mile of concrete highway in
neering that deals with soil work with the Ralph M. Parsons the world was poured on Wood-
sciences. He used his expertise Co. of Pasadena, Calif.
ward between Six and Seven
and training in that field to help
There, he took on the world, Mile. ❑
aa~ at
7A,
— 14/5
Within fiveyears, West rn
countries including Israel will
have to raise the pension age to
70 to preserve today's level of
pension benefit,s, Bezel( Dime-
tor-General Yitzhak Kaul pre-
dicted.
Speaking at Manpower's an -
111 it conference in Tel Aviv, Mr.
Kaul said that in a decade,
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eq; f1N3s'ig,
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arlY4
reUit only at 75. :4
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In Canada, Me
the pension age will
raised to 81 if in 2019
try wants to give retirees'
benefits that are provided to-
day.