Sir Gerhard Jacob Zunz (25 December 1923 – 11 December 2018) was a British civil engineer and former chairman of

Ove Arup & Partners Arup (officially Arup Group Limited) is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London which provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environment ...

. He was the principal structural designer of the Sydney Opera House.

Career

Zunz was born to a Jewish family December 25, 1923 in

Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, li, Jlabbach ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, the territory of Mönchengladbac ...

, Germany, but at the age of 13 he moved to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. After interrupting his studies to serve with the South African Army in Egypt and Italy in the Second World War, he graduated in civil engineering at the

University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

in 1948. He worked for a consultant and structural steelwork fabricator, before coming to London to join

Ove Arup Sir Ove Nyquist Arup, CBE, MICE, MIStructE, FCIOB (16 April 1895 – 5 February 1988) was an English engineer who founded Arup Group Limited, a multinational corporation that offers engineering, design, planning, project management, an ...

in 1950. In 1954, he returned to South Africa and together with Michael Lewis established an office for Arup.Sir Jack Zunz obituary.
/ref> In 1961 Zunz returned to London as an associate partner and then from 1965 as a senior partner. He led the team which designed the roof of the Sydney Opera House. He was responsible for many landmark projects, including Britannic House for BP, the

Standard Bank Standard Bank Group Limited is a major South African bank and financial services group. It is Africa's biggest lender by assets. The company's corporate headquarters, Standard Bank Centre, is situated in Simmonds Street, Johannesburg. History ...

building in Johannesburg, the

Emley Moor transmitting station The Emley Moor transmitting station is a telecommunications and broadcasting facility on Emley Moor, west of the village centre of Emley, in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It is made up of a concrete tower and apparatus that began ...

, the headquarters building for the HSBC Main Building, the first Stansted Airport Terminal and many more. He was Chairman of Ove Arup and Partners from 1977 to 1984 and Co-chairman of Ove Arup Partnership, the whole Arup group, from 1984 to 1989. He was centrally involved in developing the technical skills of the firm, in increasing its geographical spread as well as creating a framework for an increasing number of talented engineers and allied professionals to develop their skills and their careers. Zunz was a consultant to Arup from 1989 to 1996 and the first Chairman of the Ove Arup Foundation. Under his guidance the Foundation initiated the

Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, formerly the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership and the Cambridge Programme for Industry, is part of the School of Technology within the University of Cambridge. The Instit ...

postgraduate programme at the University of Cambridge, and subsequently the

LSE Cities LSE Cities is a research centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The purpose of the centre is to increase knowledge and understanding of how people and cities interact in a rapidly urbanising world, focusing on how the phys ...

Programme at the London School of Economics. He was a Fellow Commoner at Churchill College, Cambridge 1967-68. He has lectured widely on his projects and related topics, particularly education. He is the author or co author of many papers. He held a number of appointments outside his firm including being Chairman of the Trustees of the Architectural Association and President of CIRIA (Construction Industry Research and Information Association).

Awards

He was elected a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1983. Together with Sir Ove Arup he was given the Silver Medal of the

Institution of Structural Engineers The Institution of Structural Engineers is a professional body for structural engineering based in the United Kingdom. The Institution has over 30,000 members operating in over 100 countries. The Institution provides professional accreditation ...

and he received that Institution’s Gold Medal in 1988. He was appointed

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are th ...

in 1989. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...

in 1993, an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

in 1994 and an Honorary Doctorate of Science in Engineering from the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

in 2015.http://www.wits.ac.za/newsroom/newsitems/201512/27782/news_item_27782.html He was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1990 and an Honorary Fellow of

Trevelyan College , motto_English = Truth more readily than falsehood , scarf = , named_for = George Macaulay Trevelyan , namesake = George Macaulay Trevelyan , established = 1966 , principal = Adekunle Adeyeye , vice_principal = I ...

, Durham University in 1996.

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zunz, Gerhard Jack) 1923 births 2018 deaths Fellows of Churchill College, Cambridge Fellows of the Institution of Civil Engineers Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering IStructE Gold Medal winners Knights Bachelor Jewish engineers Ove Arup Structural engineers Sydney Opera House South African Jews University of the Witwatersrand alumni 20th-century British engineers 21st-century British engineers South African emigrants to the United Kingdom Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom South African military personnel of World War II