CLIFFORD C. HERDMAN
Clifford
C. Herdman, 83, of Cape Coral, Florida, passed
peacefully at Cape Coral Hope Hospice on Monday,
February 28, 2011. Born in West New York, NJ, on
February 26, 1928, he went on to become an athlete,
engineer, sportsman, and civic leader.
While serving as a Petty
Officer in the Navy, he traveled the South Pacific
playing center for their championship basketball
team. He went on to receive a Bachelor's Degree from
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA
from New York University. He was a civil engineer
for the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey for 42
years in charge of future planning for major
thoroughfares like the George Washington Bridge and
Newark International Airport.
He and his wife, Doris
Santoro-Herdman, retired to FL in 1994 where he
served on the boards of the Cape Coral Fishing Club;
Cape Coral Historical Museum (lovingly taking care
of the rose garden); and the beautification
committee of Ft. Myers and Cape Coral.
He was pre-deceased by his
parents, Mary Murphy and Charles Herdman. He is
survived by his loving wife, Doris; his brother
Ralph (Claire); his four children, Chris, Beth,
Louise, and Paul (Dana); two stepchildren, Sandra
and Jerry (Bernadette); nine grandchildren, Sasha,
Hali, Ayla, Emma, Kelsa, Leah, Olivia, Jesse, Jerry
(Denise); and one great grandson, Nicholas.
Collectively, they shared thousands of memories
catching blue fish, sharing jokes, ballroom dancing,
playing hoops, working in his gardens, building tree
forts and frog ponds and camping on Lake George.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, March
19th at 11:30 am at St. Andrews Church in Cape
Coral. In lieu of flowers, his family suggests
memorial donations be made to Hope Hospice in Cape
Coral or the Alvin Dubin Alzheimers Resource Center
in Fort Myers, Florida. Arrangements:
Fort Myers Memorial Gardens
Funeral Home
Published in The News-Press on March 3, 2011
Copyright
© 2011 www.news-press.com
It is
indeed a tribute to a man who obviously invokes many
fond memories from his fellow workers, I received a few
emails about cliff and thought it appropriate that I
share them for all to read......Webmaster
From:
Paul.Wood@jetblue.com
To: para@paranynj.org
Sent: Sunday, 3/6/2011
10:28:24 P.M.
Subject: Cliff Herdman
Hi Arnold,
My Cliff Herdman story is quite similar to yours.
I was a new engineering trainee and I had worked only a
short time for Joe Fabian, Paul Nicholson and Frank
Cummings in Terminals when I was transferred to a rush
project in Tunnels and Bridges. Irv Gould introduced me
to Cliff who was warm and friendly from the start. He
was working on an additional bridge for the NY bridge
approach project. This bridge had to "catch up" with
the rest of the project and a final estimate was
needed. I told Cliff I had never done an estimate and
in the following several days, I prepared an estimate as
Cliff instructed, corrected and encouraged me.
Bid time approached and I was very uncomfortable after
the bid opening as Mr Gould and Cliff approached me with
no sign of a smile on their faces. It seems Cliff had
taught me too well and our estimate was exactly the same
as that of the low bidder! Mr Kyle, the Chief Engineer,
had tasked them with determining if I had any
connections to the low bid contractor. I went on to work
for Cliff on structural integrity but I will never
forget "the estimate". Although I moved to other
divisions, Cliff was the kind of person who always had
time to say hello and ask how things were going, and I
spent many hours discussing engineering solutions with
him. He was a true professional and a great asset to
the Engineering Department.
Paul Wood
From:
aaronowitz@yahoo.com
To: para@paranynj.org
Sent: 3/6/2011 10:05:25
A.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subject: Cliff Herdman
Cliff was a great guy, a friend, a gentleman and a
pleasure to work with. I first met Cliff, more than
fifty years ago, when he was the lead structural
designer to construct a new Bayonne Bridge Toll Plaza
and Building. I was one of the new engineering
trainees, working with him, on the project. Shortly
after the building was constructed he asked me to
investigate something very strange. The heating unit,
in the building, was lifted off the floor and appeared
to be floating in the air. We both laughed when I
reported what I had found.
Adjacent to the building, which was supported by
foundations resting on rock, was an abandoned rock
quarry that had been back filled with, loose, garbage
more than 100 years before. When the work started the
site appeared to be a virgin forest. The large diameter
pipe, that provided gas to the heating unit, was
supported by garbage in the quarry. When the grade was
raised, to be compatible with the plaza elevations, the
quarry and the pipe settled. Since the pipe that rested
on the building did not settle and the pipe in the
quarry area did a fulcrum was created that lifted the
heater.
I still remember Cliff Herdman and his warm smile and
friendship.
Arnold Aronowitz
