CH2M HILL founding partner James C. Howland died in Corvallis on August 28, 2008. He was 92, and the last surviving founder of the firm.
An Oregon native who actively sought ways to improve his community, Jim (as he insisted everyone call him) has often been described as the soul of CH2M HILL, who helped set the moral standards the company still upholds today.
Jim earned his Bachelor’s Degree in civil engineering and a Tau Beta Pi fellowship from Oregon State College in Corvallis (now Oregon State University). There, he met his future partners — T. Burke Hayes, Holly Cornell, and Professor Fred Merryfield. He moved to New England, where he met his future wife, Ruth “Meisy” Meisenhelder, and earned a Master’s Degree in civil engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“He truly inspired the very best of in all of us.”
Ralph Peterson
CH2M HILL Chairman and CEO
In 1939, Jim began working for Standard Oil Company in California; and he and Meisy married in 1941. After being deployed to Hawaii and Saipan for military engineering assignments, Jim returned to Corvallis to help found the new engineering firm Cornell, Howland, Hayes, and Merryfield. Jim served as general manager of the firm almost from its beginning, in 1946 — a position he held until he was named president from 1966 to 1974.
A year after serving as chairman of the board, from 1974 to 1977, Jim captured the culture and ethics upon which he and the other founders based their fledgling engineering firm. Originally titled Management Quotations from Chairman Jim, the pocket-sized booklet was renamed the Little Yellow Book because of its cover color. In print ever since, the Little Yellow Book is now available in English, Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, and will soon be published in Russian.
“Jim Howland is one of those remarkable people who has enriched so many lives — in so many ways — that it becomes nearly impossible to keep track of all the good things he’s done,” said Ralph Peterson, CH2M HILL chief executive.
Jim is survived by his wife; three sons, Mark, Peter, and Eric; and two daughters, Julie Shaull and Joyce Howland. He is also survived by six grandchildren.