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Berkeley, not baseball, has been very good to him
by Carol Menaker
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At
age 84, structural engineer Jack Martin is still looking for
“fun projects.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF JACK MARTIN |
When Jack Martin (B.S.’43 CEE) looks out the 31st floor
window of his downtown Los Angeles apartment, he has a spectacular
view of architect Frank Gehry's latest creation, the sweeping
270,000-square-foot Walt Disney Concert Hall. While observers
might see this massive stainless steel structure of undulating
panels as a thing of awe and beauty, Martin sees it as a creative
solution to a complex structural engineering problem, or what
he calls “a fun project.”
The Walt Disney Concert Hall is one of hundreds of structural
engineering projects in the Martin & Associates portfolio
that began with the firm's first big commission in 1954, the Fremont
Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Today, at 84, Martin continues
to exhibit the extraordinary creativity and imagination that still
attracts to his firm some of the most ambitious structural engineering
projects in the world.
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Jack
Martin can see the 270,000-square-foot stainless steel Walt
Disney Concert Hall, which his structural enginering firm
worked on, from the window of his 31st-story apartment in
downtown Los Angeles.
PHOTO COURTESY OF JACK MARTIN |
Martin easily reminisces about his life as a young boy in the
1930s. In 10 years he attended eight different schools. From age
14, he worked in lumber camps and wheat fields in Oregon and Washington.
At 17, a talented ball player with American Legion–sponsored
experience in both high school and junior college, Martin was
headed for a career in baseball.
But in 1938, a chance meeting with Cal baseball coach Clint Evans
opened the door to Martin's Berkeley education. Two days later,
with a loan in hand and the promise of a job, Martin was enrolled
in Berkeley’s Department of Civil Engineering. Once in school,
it was his innate perseverance and his gift for visualizing complex
engineering problems that formed the foundation of his extraordinary
career.
“The professors and staff at Berkeley were so good to me.
They helped me with loans, looked out for me when I was sick,
and made sure I had a job every summer,” Martin says. “I'm
so grateful for everything they did. That's why it's so important
to me to give back.”
Martin's firm has consistently ranked among the top 20 in Building
Design and Construction's Top 300 list and in the top 160 of Engineering
News Record's Top 500 Design Firms. Martin himself has been recognized
many times for his generosity and support in helping others, including
Berkeley Engineering, where he has established the John A. Martin
Endowment to benefit the Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering. In 1994, the College recognized Martin with its Distinguished
Engineering Alumni Award.
CAROL MENAKER of San Jose is a freelancer who
writes for a number of university alumni magazines.
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