In Memoriam: Jimmie Wayne Hinze

Jimmie Wayne Hinze was born in Burton, Texas on February 17, 1946 and grew up on a cotton and chicken farm in Round Top, Texas. He graduated from the Round Top Carmine High School and received an associate’s degree from Blinn College, bachelor of science in architectural engineering with honors and a master’s of science in architectural engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1976. There he began his life’s work regarding construction safety and management. His first academic appointment was at the University of Missouri, Columbia, where he met his future wife, Maxine Mueller. While at Missouri, he was “loaned” to the Bureau of Standards in Washington, DC to work on trenching standards that are still in use today. Jimmie is survived by his loving wife of 32 years, Maxine Mueller Hinze, of College Station, and two sons, Jacob Hinze of College Station, and Justin Hinze of San Marcos, Texas. He was preceded in death by his father Clarence Hinze; sister, Shirley Muesse; and his grandparents. He is survived by his mother Grace Elise Hinze; his brother Billie T. Hinze and wife, Darlene, of Round Top, Texas; sister Judy Matula and husband Jerry, of Houston. Jimmie spent 12 years in the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Washington before accepting an appointment at the University of Florida (UF), Gainesville as the Director of the M.E. Rinker School of Building Construction. He retired in May of 2013 and was the director of the Center for Construction Safety and Loss Control and the Fluor Program for Construction Safety at UF. He had students and colleagues from all over the world. At one speaking engagement he was introduced as the “rock star of construction safety” and was referred to as the “academic godfather” of another speaker. He is the sole author of four textbooks on construction, several in 2nd and 3rd editions that have also been translated into other languages by his former students. He has several coauthored texts and has written over 100 scholarly papers and articles. His graduate students, both master’s and Ph.D., number in the hundreds, many that have gone on to impact the construction industry. Jimmie was an ASCE member as well as an active member of ASSE and the Construction Industry Institute (CII), and was a founding member of the CIB W099, an international working group on safety in construction. There were many awards over his lifetime including the ASCE Peurifoy Construction Research Award, the 2002 University of Florida Research Foundation Professorship, the CII Outstanding Researcher in 2003, and the 2012 Nancy Perry Teaching Excellence Award, and many others. He was recently inducted into the National Academy of Construction, a prestigious honor bestowed upon those who have impacted the construction industry at the national level. Jimmie was also an avid bird watcher, bird photographer, and in his youth did bird taxidermy. He collected bird stamps, and did bird carvings. He also wrote poetry and was an accomplished artist in charcoal and watercolors. He had an incredible sense of humor and knew how to turn a bad situation into something that could make one laugh. He was described as a gentleman and a most humble person, always putting his students and fellow colleagues ahead of himself. He will be missed beyond measure by his family and friends. Jimmie Wayne Hinze, 67, went to be with his Lord and Savior on September 12, 2013 after a courageous battle with cancer.