Milton Pikarsky

Biography

Milton Pikarsky
1924 - 1989

Milton Pikarsky graduated from City College of New York in 1944 with a degree in civil engineering, but soon took a leave of absence to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Following military service, he spent ten years with the railroad as an assistant engineer in Chicago.

In 1956 he became a partner in the firm of Plumb, Tuckett, & Pikarsky, specializing in the design and construction of highway and railroad bridges. In 1960 he began his official relationship with the City of Chicago, which would soon make him a key figure in Chicago's public works history. Pikarsky was elected Chicago's Engineer of the Year and was, at times, the focus of critical attention of the public and media. It was during this period that Pikarsky earned an M.S. degree in civil engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), where years later he became a faculty member.

In 1973 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and was confirmed as chairman of the Chicago Transit Authority. As such, his reputation and influence were felt on the national scene.

More and more Milton became involved in transportation research and he lectured regularly on transportation subjects at the University of Illinois and at the Illinois Institute of Technology. In 1978 he resigned from the Regional Transportation Authority to join the Research Institute of IIT.

All along Pikarsky felt indebted to the City College of New York for having given him an excellent education, tuition-free; he felt, therefore, an obligation to give of himself to the new generation studying at what is now the City University of New York. So, in 1985, he returned to his alma mater as a distinguished professor of civil engineering and to set up a transportation research institute.

At CUNY, he helped establish and became the head of the Institute of Transportation Systems; he organized and became the executive director of a Transportation Research Consortium, in which twelve universities of the eastern United States jointly conducted research, training, and technology transfer. At the same time, he served as director of Engineering Studies for the National Council of Public Works Improvement, a Washington assignment commissioned by the President and by the Congress.

He was active in an unbelievably large number of professional, academic, industrial, and civic organizations. He also wrote or coauthored sixty-seven articles and two professional books; his papers were on technical subjects and on questions of policy. Several of his many honors include: the Urban Administration Award if IIT (1968); the Townsend Harris Medal of City College of New York (1969); the James Laurie Prize (1977) and the Civil Government Award (1973), both from the American Society of Civil Engineers; and the Meritorious Service Award of the APWA (1984). He was declared one of the Ten Top Public Works Leaders of the Year by the APWA (1969).

Milton Pikarsky saw public service as the highest calling. He loved challenges and thrived on difficult assignments. Looking back at his professional life, it could be said that he had the mind of an imaginative technocrat and the heart of an idealist.

Note: Biography information from "Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering, Volume 4" (1991), National Academy Press.