"Growing up in western Pennsylvania, aptly named 'steel country,' two things were certain: you were a Steelers fan and steel was the material of choice."

Dave entered Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the fall of 1956 and began his study of Civil Engineering with the Structural option. He might not have made it without his two roommates, Abbott and Costello (a.k.a. Mike and Jim).

Upon graduation, Dave joined the American Bridge Division of United States Steel in Ambridge, PA. He excelled as an engineer and by the mid-1960s, found himself serving as a structural project manager in Chicago, playing a key role in iconic structures such as the John Hancock building (where he had weekly meetings with Dr. Fazler Khan), The Sears Tower (the world’s tallest building until 1996, now known as the Willis Tower) and the Standard Oil Building (now Aon Center).

A partnership between American Bridge and John Portman allowed Dave to lend his expertise to San Francisco’s Embarcadero Center Hyatt Regency Hotel, and Embarcadero Center “Block 230”, among many others. Following this, he became Chief Engineer at John Portman Associates in Atlanta where he lent his expertise to construction of the Renaissance Center in Detroit, as well as other iconic John Portman structures.

Throughout his early years in the construction industry at American Bridge, Inland Ryerson, John Portman and Broad Corporation, Dave was constantly reminded of the need for a structural engineer that understood construction - steel construction, in particular. He envisioned a firm that would work on behalf of the builders, erectors, fabricators to deliver more efficient and constructable solutions at all phases of steel construction.

And so Ruby+Associates was born in 1984.

As the firm's former Chairman, Dave enjoyed his role as Ruby's head mentor, and was fulfilled by knowing that the firm was - and still is - continuing in his vision.

Dave received the MSPE & ACEC/M 1998 Outstanding Individual Engineer in Private Practice; the 2004 CASE Past Chairman’s Award for outstanding contributions to the Structural Engineering Profession and the Community; the 2010 Structural Engineers Association of Michigan (SEAMi) Outstanding Structural Engineer of the Year; the 2011 AISC Lifetime Achievement Award; the 2019 ACEC Felix Anderson Image Award; the 2022 AISC J. Lloyd Kimbrough Award, and in 2023, he was was inducted into the Michigan Construction Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Constructor Award winner (view the award video HERE!)

Dave is the author of AISC Design Guide #23 "Constructability for Structural Steel Buildings" and was a regular speaker at the AISC North American Steel Construction Conference. Having been involved in so many industry professional organizations throughout his long career, Dave freely gave his time to advance the structural engineering profession and the steel industry. He is a former member of the AISC Code of Standard Practice Committee and the CASE National Guidelines Committee. As chairman of CASE, Dave organized the first joint meeting between that group, NCSEA, and SEI, and adopted the first memo of understanding between the three structural organizations. Dave is also Former Chair of the Lawrence Technological University Civil Engineering Advisory Committee. He was also a founding member of SEAMi.

Dave has been married to his wife Sue since 1963 and has 3 children and 6 grandchildren.