Obituary 04 Jul 2019

After a career in civil engineering, with particular expertise in the design of complex tunneling projects in the USA, David Yankovich, died peacefully at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada in January 2019, aged 66.

David R Yankovich

Yankovich was born in Albany, New York, in January 1953, and obtained a BS in Civil Engineering at Union College, Schenectady, New York, in 1981 and a MS in Civil Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts in 2000. He worked his way through his schooling at a foundry and as a practicing engineer. He also worked as a surveyor and as a structural engineer on post tensioned precast parking garages.

He was a member of the ASCE American Society of Civil Engineers and of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers and was a licensed professional engineer in the States of California and Nevada and of structural engineering in Arizona and Massachusetts. He later worked for Sverdrup and Black & Veatch in project engineering and project management before joining Parsons in 2008. While with Parsons he worked as a project manager and as Vice President overseeing water and wastewater tunnel projects from 2008.

As a civil engineer in the United States and on projects overseas, his expertise and experience encompassed planning, design and construction services for water and wastewater and transportation projects.

Some of his major projects throughout his career included:

• the Big Dig underground highway project in Boston;
• the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel project;
• the Clean Water Conveyance and Operations Program in Las Vegas;
• Phase 1 and 2 of the Central Outfall Sewer Rehabilitation project for the City of Los Angeles;
• the Honolulu Sand Island gravity sewer; and
• the Deep Tunnel Storm Water System in Dubai

Yankovich dedicated much of his last 10 years to the design of the new effluent outfall tunnel of for the Sanitation Districts of the Los Angeles County Clearwater Project. At a groundbreaking ceremony in May 2019, he was remembered for his commitment to the project and up until his last days.

Yankovich is survived by his wife, Laurie, his sister, Marylyn, daughter, Sandee, son in law Matthew, and two grandchildren, Evan and Annie.