Adrian Pelzner

Adrian Pelzner was born on May 12, 1926 Stamford, CT and was raised in Port Chester, NY. After high school in 1944 he enlisted in the Navy and served in the Pacific Theater on the USS Alchiba (AKA 6) and at the end of the World War 11 on the USS Straub (DE 181) in the AtlanticTheater. He was a member of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Adrian graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1950 and did graduate work in soil mechanics at the University of DE and statistics at MIT.
He began his highway career in 1952 in construction materials engineering and geotechnical sub-surface exploration. From 1952 to 1960 he was employed by highway consulting engineering companies in the planning, design, and construction of major Eastern highways including the NY State Thruway, the Northeastern extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Interstates in MD, CT, and the Baltimore Beltway, and the DC Capital Beltway. In 1960 Adrian was employed by the Bureau of Public Roads. (Federal Highway Administration). In 1965 he was with the US Forest Service as Chief Materials Engineer for a variety of highway related subjects such as landslide analysis and abatement, surface thickness design, and cost allocation. He retired from federal
service in 1985.

In 1986, under contract to the Transportation Research Board, he provided technical writing, editing and prepublication services for a national manual on highway subsurface exploration subsidies published by the American Association of State
Highway Transportation Officials.

Until the end of his second retirement from 1987 – 1991, he was Senior Staff Engineer for the National Academy of Sciences Strategic Highway Research Program. Adrian served on many technical committees and was awarded and given special recognition from them.

Adrian married his wife Barbara in 1956 after a four year courtship. Their first child was Carl (now deceased) of Hollywood, Fl, then came Diane (Gilbert) of Parker, CO, and lastly Edward who recently moved home from Maui. After retirement Adrian and Barbara, (wife of 70 years) traveled, and continued to enjoy family. Adrian pursued new interests of classical antiquities studies, photography, painting, US stamps, and woop carving. He served on the Board of Directors for Reston’s Fellowship House, and was an active participant in Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. (OLLI)

He is survived by his wife, Barbara and two of his children, Diane and Ed, 3 grandchildren, Eddie Pelzner, Danielle Taylor, and Jesica Waymire,
and 3 great-grandchildren, Jackson, Brady, and Riley.