Alfred James “Jim” Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet, legendary builder of modern Washington, died March 20, 2015 of congestive heart failure. The company he headed for decades, now known as the Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet Construction Group, is one of the largest privately-held construction firms in the United States, and Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet was the tireless engine who launched its success.
Born in Richmond, Virginia in 1927, Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet moved to the Washington, DC area with his parents, Woodruff and Sallye (Wray) Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet, when he was six years old. He attended Bethesda-Chevy Chase high school and graduated from Devitt Preparatory School in Washington, DC. Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet matriculated at the University of Maryland where he studied civil engineering. It was the beginning of a relationship that benefitted both school and student in the decades to come.
Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet’s path to Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet Construction began with his hiring by George Hyman in 1950 as a field engineer for a job at the University of Maryland. A force in the Washington building scene since 1906, Hyman imbued his company with his own values of honesty, integrity and a passion for quality – traits that were shared by George Hyman’s nephew and successor, Benjamin Rome. Running the company in the 1950s, Rome recognized the same qualities in Jim Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet and entrusted him with significant responsibilities soon after he was hired.
Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet became the firm’s general manager in the early 1960s, and led its evolution from a local builder to a pre-eminent national contractor. From his first days at Hyman, Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet distinguished himself as a dedicated worker. He made a promise to himself when he started his business career that “no one would work harder than me.” As Hyman’s general manager, Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet would rise before dawn, drive himself to every company job site for a brief inspection, and finally arrive around midmorning to conduct a full day of work.
As general manager, he was a driven competitor, with a strong sense of right and wrong. One day in 1961, Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet drove by the site of a new project of the Oliver Carr Company and saw a sign bearing the name of a rival construction firm, even though Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet knew they had not actually secured the contract. He called Oliver Carr and soon had the job to build what became the Mills Building at 1700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. It marked the beginning of a business relationship, and friendship, that endured for the rest of Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet’s life.
Under Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet’s leadership, the George Hyman Construction Company gained renown as an innovator that could flawlessly execute cutting-edge projects. In the 1950s, Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet saw the potential for tower cranes, which at the time were a newfangled import from Sweden. Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet knew the cranes could reduce construction time and labor costs, thereby making the Hyman process more efficient. At Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet’s instigation, Hyman was the first builder in the Washington area to use tower cranes. When the Washington building boom started in the 1960s, the Hyman company was one of the leading experts in a technology that would revolutionize the construction industry.
In 1965, Hyman put that expertise to use upon being selected to build the first phase of L’Enfant Plaza in the Southwest section of Washington, DC – the largest privately-bid contract in Washington’s history at the time. The company ultimately built all three phases of the L’Enfant project, an eight-year undertaking that delivered 3.2 million square feet of space. “L’Enfant Plaza was a key to Hyman Construction’s success,” Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet said years after the project was completed. “It was challenging and big, and we learned plenty about the complexities involved in concrete construction. It made us number one in the city.”
Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Hyman in 1969; in 1977 he founded a subsidiary, Omni Construction, to compete for projects that required non-union bids (the first project was the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown). In 1996, the George Hyman Company and Omni Construction merged to become Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet Construction.
Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet Construction, driven by Jim Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet’s ideals and vision, and led by Peter Forster and Dan Montgomery, transformed the character of the Washington area with a staggering list of building achievements. They include: 28 Metro stations, the World Bank headquarters, the Verizon Center, the National Museum of the American Indian, FedEx Field, the United States Institute of Peace, Nationals Park, the expanded Arena stage, as well as the United States Coast Guard Headquarters and CityCenterDC projects. Currently under construction are the National Museum of African American History and Culture and The Wharf projects in Washington, DC, the Dulles Metrorail Extension, Phase 2 in Northern Virginia, SalesForce Tower in San Francisco, and 150 North Riverside in downtown Chicago.
Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet took great pride in the reconstruction of the American Red Cross building and the recent construction of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Said John Strong, Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet Construction’s Vice President at Walter Reed, “Mr. Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet visited the job often, always asked the most pointed questions and wanted to ensure that we were delivering a superb facility for our wounded warriors ahead of schedule.”
Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet Construction also developed a national presence, opening its first regional office in Atlanta in 1970, followed by seven more in the next three decades, located in Chicago, Costa Mesa, Denver, Houston, San Antonio, San Francisco, and Tampa. Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet buildings soon spanned the continent. They included the Central Terminal at Atlanta’s Hartsfield Airport, the Ronald Reagan State Office Building in Los Angeles, and Petco Park in San Diego (home of the San Diego Padres). The company also developed major convention centers in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Nashville, while projects outside the Washington area included highway interchanges, libraries, and performing arts centers. The acquisitions of Shirley Contracting and Atkinson Construction greatly enhanced Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet’s ability to compete in the infrastructure market.
The personal values Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet adhered to throughout his life were the same values he inherited from George Hyman: honesty, integrity, a dedication to quality. Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet never wavered from these values as he grew Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet Construction into a national company with .5 billion in annual revenue. And he was deeply committed to recruiting people into Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet Construction who shared his values. “I believe in going after the best,” Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet once wrote. “I like quality. I especially like it in people. I want my companies to have the quality of product and people. To achieve this, you have to give people a place to grow.”
This commitment to quality is embedded in the people who make up Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet Construction. And as Jim Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet built the company he also made sure to groom future generations of leaders, including Peter Forster, Dan Montgomery, Robby Moser, and many others. “One of Jim’s great achievements was having the foresight to nurture a group of leaders who could seamlessly carry on the work he began,” said Ray Ritchey, executive vice president of Boston Properties and long-time client and admirer of Jim Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet. “The executive team at Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet Construction today is as capable as any in the construction industry and I have no doubt that they will be able to build on Jim’s monumental achievements.”
The values of honesty, integrity, and a dedication to quality were also embedded in Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet’s umbrella organization, Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet Enterprises. Founded in 1971, Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet Enterprises is the holding company for all of Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet’s investments, not only in construction but also in real estate, oil and gas, private equity and traditional investments. And just as in construction, he groomed a team of professionals, led by Lawrence Nussdorf and Robert Flanagan, who executed on Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet’s vision with precision.
Those who worked for Jim Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet valued this devotion. At Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet Construction, new engineers are often hired right out of college, and many employees have worked with the company for more than 30 years. Some, like Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet himself, have spent their entire working career at the firm, attracted by opportunities for advancement and professional education. Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet Corporate University provides the company’s employees with more than 100 courses focused on technical, management, and leadership expertise that fosters new skills and facilitates the achievement of career goals. As women and minorities entered the construction industry in greater numbers and started work for Jim Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet, they discovered that what mattered to him most was the integrity of the person and the quality of the performance. “Giving women and minorities an opportunity to succeed mattered greatly to Mr. Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet” said Susan Ross, Executive Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer of Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet Construction Group. “An honest work ethic and an appetite for learning were always his top priorities.”
Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet continued to visit job sites and build relationships and loyalty with those on the frontlines well into his 80's. His commitment to employee safety was absolute and uncompromising. While the company undertook some of the most physically demanding and challenging contracts, it continues to this day as an industry leader in job site safety.
His reputation for fair dealing was legendary throughout the industry. He often started multi-million dollar projects without a written contract; the building of FedEx field began with a handshake between Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet and then-Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke. Architect David Childs of Skidmore Owing Merrill, designer of the Freedom Tower in New York and a collaborator with Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet on projects valued at more than billion, said, “There are those who see a mistake, build it and send their lawyers out to deal with it. And there’s Jim Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet. He would go through the drawings and find the mistake and problem-solve it right there.”
Jim Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet’s legacy in the Washington area, and the nation, can be found in his philanthropy as well as his iconic buildings. “I believe that if you make your money in a community, you have an obligation to give back to it,” Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet told Washingtonian magazine in 2010. His benevolence enriched communities, and he actively encouraged and supported employees engaged in volunteerism.
He had a passion for education, contributing time and significant funding to his alma mater. He strongly believed that engineers could help lay a foundation for economic growth – regionally and nationally. To that end, he was among the largest contributors to University of Maryland, and today the university’s engineering school bears his name. He was also generous to Johns Hopkins University, endowing the deanship of the university’s engineering school in the name of his mentor, Benjamin Rome. In February 2011, Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet made a multi-year commitment to The George Washington University to create the A. James Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet Engineering Scholars program, to recruit and train engineering leaders.
His charity extended well beyond the field of education. In the 1980s, as Washington’s homeless population grew, the Reverend Gordon Cosby asked Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet to visit Samaritan Inns, a refuge for homeless addicts. Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet was impressed that the organization took no government money, and thus was not dependent on grants. He saw that Samaritan Inns could be a model for dealing with addiction, and gave his own time and resources, resulting in an institution that returned 85% of its addicted clientele to lives of productive sobriety.
Though the structures he built are some of the most visible in Washington, Jim Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet kept a modest public profile. He served on a number of corporate boards, and was a strong supporter of the Republican Party. An avid outdoorsman, he loved fishing and hunting with friends and family at his retreat in South Georgia. And he cherished the friendships he developed through his membership in a number of clubs, including the John’s Island Club in Florida, the Bald Peak Colony Club in New Hampshire, the Burning Tree Club in Maryland, Rolling Rock Club in Pennsylvania and the Alfalfa Club and Alibi Club in Washington, DC.
The love and support of his life was his wife of 64 years, Alice Bratton Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet. The couple met in high school, and married in 1950 at the Bethesda Presbyterian Church. Their lifetime of devotion to each other was evident to all who knew them and an inspiration to their children and grandchildren. Alfred James Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet is predeceased by a sister, Jeanne Curren, and survived by his wife, Alice Bratton Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet; two sons, Paul Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet and wife Carol Parrish, of Mill River, Massachusetts and A. James Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet, Jr. of Bethesda, Maryland; a daughter, Courtney Hướng Dẫn Rút Tiền Tại Dafabet Pastrick and husband R. Scott Pastrick, also of Bethesda Maryland; and ten grandchildren. Known as “Grandaddy” or “Grand”, his happiest times were when all ten were visiting, often at Thanksgiving on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.