A Tribute to Leo Roy Beard
Remembering Leo Roy Beard
Honorary Diplomate, Mr. Leo Roy Beard, a world renowned hydrologic engineer and professor died in Austin, Texas, on March 21, 2009, at the age of 91. Mr. Beard had an illustrious career with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1939 to 1972, retiring as the founding director of the Corps' Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC) in Davis, CA. He was known for his pioneering work on the application of statistics to hydrologic engineering. Following his retirement from the Corps of Engineers, he joined the University of Texas as Professor of Civil Engineering and subsequently the engineering consulting firm of Espey, Huston, and Associates. Professor Beard lectured at universities and other organizations throughout the world. He was a visiting professor at the University of California (Berkeley) and Utah State University and lectured at the University of California (Davis).
He was a member of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the International Association of Hydrologic Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Water Resources Association, a fellow and distinguished member of the American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE), and honorary member of the American Water Works Association (AWWA). Mr. Beard also served as chairman of the ASCE Water Resources Planning & Management Division, president of the AGU Section of Hydrology, Editor-In-Chief of Water International and managing editor of the International Journal of Hydrology.
Among some of his most notable professional achievements include: being elected into the National Academy of Engineering in 1975, receiving the ASCE Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 for "a life-long and eminent contribution to the environment and water resources engineering disciplines through practice, research and public service", receiving AAWRE honorary diplomate in 2005 as part of its' first class of honorary diplomates, and in 2007, he received the ASCE Ven Te Chow Award "for advancing knowledge in hydrologic engineering in systems techniques for reservoir regulation, statistical methods for streamflow frequency analysis, flood hydrograph computation, and the development of computer based methods for hydrologic computations". However, there are some who believe that out of all of Mr. Beard's accomplishments, his most significant achievement may be his involvement in starting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers HEC.
Here is a statement Mr. Beard made (in recent years) about the early days of the USACE Hydrologic Engineering Center:
"I well remember the weekend in April 1964 spent at Al Cochran's house in Silver Spring, Maryland. Al had been Chief of Hydraulics and Hydrology at OCE for many years, and I, in fact, worked under him there from 1942 to 1952. We spent that weekend in 1964 talking about the need for a Corps Center of Expertise in "hydrologic engineer" (a term coined that weekend). I simply served as a sounding board while Al's ideas evolved. On Monday I had a meeting with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) on another matter. When I returned after lunch Al was upset that I was away because he had already sold his idea for a Hydrologic Engineering Center to Wendell Johnson, Chief of the Engineering Division in OCE. Al wanted to proceed as rapidly as possible to set up funding and organization and to get approval from the Sacramento District to establish the center there.
Although OCE and the Corps' Waterways Experiment Station (WES) in Vicksburg were considered as sites, Sacramento was selected because Al wanted me to be Director and I could not convince my wife to leave California again. By July 1964, the Hydrologic Engineering Center with a staff of five was set up as an administrative unit under Amalio Gomez, Chief of the Planning Branch and later Chief of the Engineering Division of the Sacramento District. "Joe" Gomez provided a great deal of valuable guidance in administering the Center, but gave me a free hand otherwise."
Leo Roy Beard was born in West Baden, Indiana on April 6, 1917. His family moved to San Gabriel, CA, in 1922, where he grew up with five siblings. He attended parochial schools, Alhambra High School, Pasadena Junior College, and California Institute of Technology, from which he graduated with a BS in civil engineering in 1939. He married Marian Jeanette Wagar in 1939, with whom he had three children. Marian died in 1973, and in 1974 he married Marjorie Pierce Wood of Austin, Texas. He is survived by his wife, Marjorie; his sister, Margaret (Peggy) Nougier, his children, as well as 22 of his and Marj's grandchildren and twenty great-grandchildren. On April 6, Roy would have celebrated his 92nd birthday.
Professor Beard stated:
"Don't cry for me. There could hardly be a better life than that which mine has been. Starting with wonderful parents and three older siblings (later two younger siblings), I have been blessed with an abundant and happy life, including two wonderful marriages, three children of my own, four step-children, and so many friends, including professional associates throughout the world. The world has been full of good for me. My cup runneth over a thousand fold!"
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