Recollections: Dr. Thomas D. Larson and his enduring legacy

In preparation for the Thomas D. Larson Endowment Fund dinner, held on December 5, 2007 at Penn State, a number of individuals from government, industry, and academia shared their thoughts about Thomas Larson and the significance of his enduring legacy.

Here is what they had to say:

There is no person who was more knowledgeable or a delight to work with than Tom Larson. In my book, he’s a giant, and I miss Tom’s counsel, advice and friendship.

Norman Mineta

Former Secretary of Transportation

Through his career, Dr. Tom Larson was an agent of change, transforming the institutions he served to face the challenges of the future.

When he became Federal Highway Administrator in 1989, the transportation world was considering the shape of the post-Interstate future. This was exactly the kind of challenge he relished. He headed the National Transportation Policy Project, which examined the broad spectrum of transportation issues. The project’s 1990 report, Moving America, played a major role in shaping the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, the landmark legislation that restructured the Federal-aid highway and transit programs for the post-Interstate era. This new structure has been at the heart of the programs ever since.

Dr. Larson received every award and honor the transportation world can bestow, but for the Federal Highway Administration, his role in shaping the post-Interstate era has been his true legacy.

Richard Capka

Administrator, Federal Highway Administration

Tom Larson, a first-rate educator and administrator, was held in high esteem personally and professionally by those of us who were privileged to work with him. His efforts in promoting interdisciplinary research in transportation ensured the success of the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute. His subsequent public service to Pennsylvania and the federal government clearly established Tom as an outstanding transportation professional.

Joseph L. Carroll

Professor Emeritus of Business Administration, Penn State

There is no doubt that Tom Larson was driven to excel and that he had high expectations of those with whom he worked. There also is no doubt that he was driven by a desire to serve the public well. He was well known as an exceptional leader, motivator, and visionary. He was an advocate for interdisciplinary teaching and research in transportation before such approaches were fashionable. He helped create PTI and make it one of the leading institutions of its kind. He coupled that PTI research with extraordinary leadership and political skills to transform PennDOT into a nationally respected, professional transportation organization.

But, perhaps in our collective memories it was his deep voice that commanded authority and respect, or an engaging smile effectively used to capture an audience’s attention, or a quick glance that clearly communicated it was time to pay attention and focus. All who were associated with Tom were fortunate to have had his guidance. His influence lives on, of course, in the lives of many whose professional careers advanced due to opportunities he played a large measure in creating. He is missed, but he will always be with us.

Gary Gittings

Faculty Lead, On-line Certificate Program, Department of Supply Chain and Information Systems, Penn State; and Senior Research Associate, Pennsylvania Transportation Institute

I have many fond memories of working with Dr. Larson at the Transportation Institute. Dr. Larson had high professional standards and was respected and admired by everyone who worked with him.

Eileen Deihl

PTTSC/PTI Staff Assistant (Ret.)

Tom Larson gave the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation a proud new direction. With a combination of vision and determination, he retooled the organization to meet Pennsylvania’s ever growing transportation expectations. He established a high level of trust with the Legislature and partners, so critical to the Department’s success. The Department is still building on the firm foundation Tom established  nearly a quarter century ago. We take seriously his admonition that dedicated, hard work is the key to success.

Allen D. Biehler, P.E.

Secretary of Transportation, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

If I have been successful in life, I certainly owe my career to Tom. He was a friend and mentor who guided me in many ways, both personal and professional. He was a practical engineer who used his management and engineering skills to solve day-to-day problems; but, at the same time, he was a visionary with the unique ability to focus our energies on transportation issues of the future. Most important, Tom was a caring individual who understood life and our environment. On any given day, Tom could discuss the complex funding structure for our nation’s highways and in the next moment explain how to plant seed potatoes and keep bees. Tom was a scholar, a gentleman, and a friend who always kept his word and never compromised his integrity.

Walter P. Kilareski

Professor Emeritus, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Penn State

Inspiring and prolific are insufficient terms to use in speaking about Tom Larson. His contributions, from the local level to state leadership and national policy, have been far reaching and significant. Tom Larson’s story can be read as a boldface note to all of us about how things get done in life: Nurture and gather together your drive, skills, and persistence, and let a vision for progress and service be what illuminates your path forward.

Bill Shuster

U.S. Representative

In 1972 I returned to Penn State to pursue an MBA. I received an appointment as a research assistant at PTI, to also work as Tom’s administrative assistant and to do transportation research in the area of business logistics. The group of graduate students and research assistants that worked at PTI during this period came from diverse disciplines and backgrounds. Many of us were in our late twenties and early thirties, were Vietnam Vets, and had worked in industry or state and federal government agencies. Several were married and had small children. This was probably not the usual graduate student staffing profile that Tom had managed in the past and we probably gave him some gray hair.

Tom was not only a gentleman toward all the people that he met, but he also was an extraordinary scholar, teacher, manager and mentor, not only to PTI graduate students, but also to the faculty members who led research projects at PTI.

Tom had a vision of growing PTI into a nationally recognized center of excellence for interdisciplinary transportation research. Through his leadership and management style, he melded the unique academic disciplines and skills of each person that worked at the Institute to achieve that vision.

Many of the graduate students from this era became faculty members at Penn State in the Civil Engineering and Business Logistics departments, and they also undertook research projects at PTI. Several graduates from the 1972-1975 groups also became faculty members at other universities or pursued careers in industry and government.

I have been fortunate to have been associated with Tom Larson and to have been a part of the legacy that he has fostered. I have benefited professionally and personally throughout my career because I have had the benefit of knowing and working for Tom Larson.

Gary Wiser

Director of Programs, Raytheon Corporation (Ret.)

Tom epitomized President Reagan’s quote stressing that great accomplishments are possible if one doesn’t mind others receiving the credit. Tom was the single prime mover in creating the Penn State UTC, the national Council of University Transportation Centers, founding the modern Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and reorganizing and modernizing the Federal Highway Administration. He helped create a new kind of UTC with the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University. Yet he shunned the credit for those difficult, break-through accomplishments. It’s such a pleasure to honor him, though posthumously, for being one of the true giants of our national transportation community in the 20th century.

Rod Diridon, Sr.

President, Council of University Transportation Centers

Tom Larson is the individual that had the greatest influence and impact on my academic and professional career, and I doubt that I am the only person who can make this claim. I had the good fortune to know Tom from the beginning of graduate school throughout my entire thirty-two-year professional career at Penn State, as a teacher, a mentor, a role model and a friend.

Tom’s understanding of the contribution that the transportation sector could make to benefit the economy and society was visionary and idealistic; but he was also very patient and practical in meeting his goals. Even as he transitioned from the academic environment to leadership roles in state and federal agencies, he continued to learn and teach and to nurture future generations of transportation professionals. His patience and long-term vision allowed him to see many of his transportation policy ideas formulated while at Penn State through to fruition at the state and federal levels.

I first met “Dr. Larson” in the spring of 1968 when I reported to the Pennsylvania Transportation and Traffic Safety Center as the third graduate assistant for the Center that was officially established in February 1968. I worked on a very small part of the Methodological Framework for Comprehensive Transportation Planning, one of several studies being performed in anticipation of the formation of PennDOT. Tom’s patience and leadership at PennDOT and FHWA then enabled him to implement many of these early concepts, especially as he had a key role in the design of the ground-breaking Intermodal Surface Transportation Act while head of the FHWA nearly 25 years later.

Soon after forming what became PTI, Tom began meeting with directors of similar university-based research organizations and that collaboration led to the formation of the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC). One of the highest priority goals of CUTC was to establish a number of federally funded centers of excellence. After more than a decade of effort, the UTC program became a reality in 1988, and I had the great fortune of serving as director of the UTC for the mid-Atlantic region. Tom’s tenure at FHWA coincided with the initiation of the UTC program so that he was able to set UTC program policies and management approaches to meet his earlier vision.

Though Tom was a civil engineer, his breadth of interests, even from these earliest days, drove him to seek out psychologists, economists, political scientists, geographers, regional planners and others to join the engineers and business faculty and students in addressing pressing transportation issues. My early   education was greatly enriched by Tom’s insistence on this big picture view of transportation. Tom’s breadth of interest and his strong character and leadership made him a man I wanted to learn from and follow.

James H. Miller

Associate Professor Emeritus, Smeal College of Business; and former Director, Mid-Atlantic Universities Transportation Center

Pennsylvanians lost a favorite son, with the passing of Tom Larson in July 2006. Tom was truly a professional in every sense of the word; as a public servant, a professor, a father and a husband. All of us who had the privilege to know and serve with him were deeply saddened to hear of his passing. An engineering pioneer, Tom was a great manager, with a knack for bringing folks together to achieve a common goal. He was never concerned with getting credit.

I cherish the many Sunday nights that Tom and I shared at his home; I’d give him the Harrisburg updates, he’d keep me up to speed on Washington – always over coffee and his wife’s homemade chocolate chip cookies.

Tom will long be remembered as a tireless champion against political corruption and was the gold standard for good government practice, at the state and federal level. He literally took PennDOT from Pennsylvania’s worst run agency to the nation’s top state transportation agency. He will be greatly missed by his colleagues, family and friends. I’m honored to have known and worked beside Tom Larson, the most effective public servant I’ve ever known.

John Peterson

U.S. Representative

Tom Larson believed it was possible to perfect the organization ... not just to do things better, but to do them as well as they could possibly be done.

Brad Mallory

Chief Operating Officer, Michael Baker Corporation; and former PennDOT Secretary

Tom Larson was one of my most valuable advisors as we moved transportation legislation through the Congress. He was brilliant, of great integrity and a wonderful friend!

Bud Shuster Congressman (Ret.)

Dr. Larson helped form the ideals in my career. As a young staff person starting at Penn State (Civil Engineering then on to PTI), his character, expectations, and professionalism helped mold the office professional I became. He was a strong leader in establishing and guiding those standards PTI holds to this day.

Ann Johnstonbaugh Administrative Assistant

Tom Larson took over the Transportation Department mired in patronage and scandal and brought it up to a level of professionalism and competence respected nationwide.

Tom was a visionary in supporting Act 61 of 1985, which placed many state highways on the Turnpike project list. At a meeting prior to the end of his state service, he indicated to me and several others the need to look at tolling of our highways for construction funds.

Roger A. Madigan Pennsylvania State Senator

It is always useful to have someone who can ask the hard questions. And if that person has the knowledge and experience to draw on, it is something to treasure. Baker was fortunate to have that rare resource in Tom Larson.

Richard L. Shaw

Chairman and CEO, Michael Baker Corporation

I will always remember the early discussions and meetings I had with Tom in 1989 after he became FHWA Administrator … he was welcoming, intellectually stimulating and curious, candid and a tower of insight and knowledge … and this was before he found out I was a grad of PSU! Tom was the ultimate role model for all transportation professionals!

Pete Ruane

President and CEO, American Road & Transportation Builders Association

Dr. Larson had a passion for “innovation” and focusing transportation research to solve problems – specifically the Strategic Highway Research Program. Because of Larson’s vision and innovative research planning, the Hot-Mix Industry today has a mix design process based on engineering properties related directly to traffic loading. A new liquid asphalt specification is also related to pavement performance.

These HMA improvements are increasing the asphalt pavement life substantially across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Ronald J. Cominsky, P.E.

Executive Director, Pennsylvania Asphalt Pavement Association