Frank Clinton Wight
Frank Clinton Wight (1882-1927), editor of the US published Engineering News-Record.
1927 Obituary[1]
THE LATE MR. F. C. WIGHT.
It is with great regret that we have to record the death, at the early age of 45, of Mr. Frank Clinton Wight, editor of the Engineering News Record, New York. Mr. Wight, who had recently recovered from a nervous breakdown, died after a brief illness at his home in Summit, New Jersey, on September 18 last. Born in Washington, District of Columbia, U.S. A., on February 26, 1882,
Mr. Wight received his technical training at Columbia (now George Washington) University, Washington, D.C., and later at Cornell University, New York, at which latter institution he gained the degree of Civil Engineer in 1904. The young graduate then entered the office of the engineer of bridges of the District of Columbia, as an assistant engineer. While in this capacity, he was employed on work in connection with the design and construction of the Piney Branch and Anacostia bridges and of the great Connecticut Avenue viaduct over Rock Creek valley. Mr. Wight was initiated into technical journalism in December, 1906, when he was appointed associate editor of Engineering News. During the six years, which followed, he devoted himself principally to questions relating to concrete design and construction. This subject, we may add, was not without difficulties, as reinforced concrete was, at the time of Mr. Wight’s appointment, in its early stages of development in the United States. In addition, he was given the almost equally arduous task of dealing with all river and harbour installations and engineering plant. By sheer force of ability and hard work, however, the young engineer triumphed over the difficulties, which lay in his path, and won success from the very first.
Mr. Wight was promoted to the post of managing editor of Engineering News in 1913, and retained that position until this journal was incorporated with Engineering Record in 1917. In that year he returned to more strictly technical work on the combined journal. Four years later, however, he was called upon to resume the managing editorship for, on January 1, 1924, when Mr. E. J. Mehren, editor of Engineering News-Record, vacated that position in order to devote his time to the executive management of the engineering branch of the McGraw-Hill publications, Mr. Wight succeeded him, and continued to hold this difficult appointment until his death. The new editor’s first big task was the production of a special issue commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the existence of the journal. This issue, which was published on April 17, 1924, further enhanced his already established reputation as an efficient technologist and administrator.
Mr. Wight had for many years been looked upon as an authority on reinforced concrete; and his investigations into the effect of sea-water on that material, his writings on reinforced-concrete design and construction, and his work as a member and committeeman, of the American Concrete Institute, and as editor of its “ Proceedings,” were all noteworthy. A member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, he served on some of its important committees. He was also for many years a member of the Cornell Society of Engineers and of the Engineers’ Club. Some time ago, he was chosen as a member of the committee on street and highway-traffic safety, which was formed by Mr. H. C. Hoover, Secretary of Commerce in the United States Government. Quite recently, as a result of a serious hotel fire, Mr. Wight was asked by the National Fire Protection Association, to undertake the chairmanship of a committee on the protection against fire of structural work. He was for many years an active worker of both the National Conference of Business Paper Editors and of the New York Editorial Conference, and was President of the former organisation at the time of his death. He was a former chairman of the New York Editorial Conference.
Mr. Wight was a man of brilliant attainments and possessed great administrative talents. His career was one of incessant activity, and it is highly probable that overwork was a contributory cause of his untimely death.