The Concrete Industry Foundation Inc. will honor structural engineer Irwin Cantor and builder Charles DeBenedittis, long time worldwide director of design and construction activities for Tishman Speyer and now an advisor to Tishman Speyer, at the Foundation’s annual awards presentation luncheon on October 4 at the New York Athletic Club in New York City.
Currently working on projects in China and elsewhere around the world, Irwin G. Cantor has also done an enormous amount of work in New York City, including Trump Tower and the Rockefeller Research Facility, among others. Cantor has devoted a lifetime to the pursuit of design excellence. He graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1951 with a Bachelor’s in civil engineering.
Following his early years as a principal in several prominent New York structural engineering firms, he founded the Office of Irwin G. Cantor from 1971 to 1992, when he co-founded WSP Cantor Seinuk.Since 1998, he has been president of Irwin G. Cantor, PE.
The award to DeBenedittis honors the memory of a past president of the Concrete Industry Board of New York, who was with the firm of Metcalf & Eddy, consulting engineers.
DeBenedittis has been with Tishman Speyer since its 1978 founding. Among the many developments with which he has been involved are the company’s former headquarters building at 520 Madison Avenue, the MesseTurm development in Frankfort, Germany, and the Sony Center project in Berlin, Germany.
Earlier, DeBenedittis was senior vice president in charge of design and construction at Tishman Realty & Construction Co. at a time when the company constructed Chicago’s John Hancock Tower, New York City’s World Trade Center, Detroit’s Renaissance Center, and Tishman’s own portfolio of buildings in New York and in other major cities across the United States.
The Concrete Industry Foundation (CIF) is an educational and research fund, which fosters excellence in design and construction through a scholarship and grant program for study in the concrete built environment.
Since it first began awarding scholarships in 1996, the CIF, has provided financial assistance to students preparing for careers in the design and construction industry, with special emphasis on study related to concrete. CIF has awarded 110 grants. This year’s scholarships — each in the amount of $2,000 — will be awarded to students attending seven metropolitan New York area colleges.
For information about the scholarships, go to www.concrete industryfoundation.org.
