Thomas George Krzewinski
August 14, 1949 — April 12, 2023
Thomas George Krzewinski, age 73 of Duluth, and formerly of Anchorage, AK, died on April 12, 2023. Born and raised in Duluth, Tom was a proud Central graduate. He met the love of his life, Carol (Amborn), and went on to raise 3 wonderful children together. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Carol; children, Matthew (Jennifer), Susan Knaus, and Mark (Courtney); grandchildren, Brenden, Alexis, Olivia, Ivy, Jaxsen, Hudsen, Delilah; brother, Paul (Mardy); brother-in-law, Steven (Cheryl) Amborn; and many nieces, nephews and extended family and friends. Tom was preceded in death by his parents, George & Helen (Zywot); brother, Mike; and son-in-law, Jerry Knaus.
Tom was an avid fisherman. Whether fishing in a river, a lake or a sea, he loved it all! He cherished his time spent outdoors: fishing, grilling and golfing. He spent years with Boys Scouts as an Eagle Scout to Scout Master. He was a family man and loved spending time with his seven grandchildren, kids and extended family at the cabin.
He started his long and prestigious engineering career on the design of the Trans Alaska Pipeline almost immediately after graduating from the University of Minnesota, before being whisked away to Alaska for final design and construction of TAPS. He managed Dames and Moore's operation in AK after TAPS, beginning a career long engagement with the Red Dog Mine, which he continued to work on until his passing. While at Dames and Moore he was also very active with development of the infrastructure supporting oil development on Alaska's North Slope and other development projects across the state. He left Alaska for 15 years to return to Duluth and be closer to family while working for American Engineering before returning in 2002, working for Golder Associates and WSP until the end of his career, where he continued to support development in Alaska and elsewhere in northern environments. Throughout his distinguished career he was an active contributor to furthering the profession of cold regions engineering through active involvement in professional organizations such as the American Society of Engineers (ASCE) and their Technical Council for Cold Regions Engineering (TCCRE) and the successor Cold Regions Engineering Division (CRED), the United States Permafrost Association (USPA), the lnternational Permafrost Association (lPA), and the lnternational Association for Cold Regions Development Studies (IACORDS), as well as being active on organizing committees for multiple international conferences and publishing extensively about his work.
Mr. Krzewinski was an internationally recognized expert in the field of cold Regions Geotechnical Engineering, with experience across North America, including work on large infrastructure and industrial development projects such as the Trans Alaska Pipeline system (TAPS), the Red Dog Mine in Northwestern Alaska, multiple bridges and realignment of the Alaska Railway, a new railway to the Ring of Fire mining area in Ontario, Canada. Other projects are too numerous to list but included transportation projects for local, state and federal entities, railroad facilities, and foundations for hundreds of bridges, buildings and earth embankments.
He was the 1998 recipient of the American society of civil Engineer's "Harold R. Peyton Award" for significant contributions to Cold Regions Geotechnical Engineering' He was also the 1999 recipient of the Construction Specifications lnstitute's “Technical Certificate of Merit", for devoted and selfless contributions of time and talent to advancing technology through research in cold Regions Engineering. ln 2009 he was announced the recipient of the Academy of Geo-Professionals Board of Trustees “Diplomate, Geotechnical Engineering (D.GE)" credential. Also in 2009, Mr. Krzewinski was named the Alaska Engineer of the year. ln 2010 he was the recipient of the American Society of Civil Engineers Can-Am Amity Award for a significant body of Cold Regions Engineering Work on both sides of the border in North America. He was a current and long-term Commissioner on the Municipality of Anchorage's Geotechnical Advisory Commission (GAC) and served as a Board level Director of the Resource Development Council of Alaska. Mr. Krzewinski is a past President of the United States Permafrost Association and has served as the official US Representative to the lnternational Permafrost Association. He was also a past Region 8 Governor (representing Alaska) of the American Society of Civil Engineers and served on the ASCE Codes and Standards Committee.
Tom also would regularly sign off his emails with:
"Hey, how about those Vikings!"
VISITATION: Saturday, April 29th from 10:00 am until the start of the Funeral Service at 11:00 am in the Dougherty Funeral Home, 600 E Second Street, Duluth, MN 55805.
Obituary from Dougherty Funeral Home, Duluth, Minnesota
Dave Norton
Tom was a towering figure in the development of Alaska infrastructure and was a good friend. I met him during TAPS construction and we remained colleagues until his passing. He was steady and extremely competent and gave both those who worked with him and his clients confidence in his advice and guidance. The Alaska engineering community will sorely miss him.
Allan Powell
I worked with Tom as part of the Dames & Moore team under Bob Marshall in the Bragaw Street office of Alyeska. Tom had a great sense of humour and enjoyed the many social occasions. I travelled with him to Glenallen Camp to log some boreholes and he managed to lose control of the Dames & Moore truck and we ended up completely unhurt, but off the road on one side in deep snow. Tom was most amused by the whole incident and recounted it with great enthusiasm back at the office. It was a great pleasure working with him.
Allan Powell
Elden Johnson
Toms invovement w TAPS goes way back to Alyeska's design office in the Central National Bank building, downtown Houston, 1972-74. He and I were both young geotechnical engineers just out of University. Tom worked on the "Mode Committee" with Alyeska and consultant engineers reviewing all the geotechnical data to determine wether to place the pipeline above ground, below ground, or in Special Design modes.
Once the pipeline was authorized, we both transferred to Alaska in 1974 to begin the construction phase. New data was always comming in as construction proceeded and Mode decisions often had to be reviewed and potentially revised. Remode during construction was a very critical and time sensitive concern, greatly affecting construction cost and schedule, as well as pending operational performance. Tom worked on many other geotechnical issues identified during the construction phase, including the rock slopes at the Marine Terminal, permafrost and seismicity, and slope stability along the TAPS route. Tom and Carol became good friends. They attended my wedding in 1976 and remain friends to this day.
Tom remained w Dames and Moore, then Golder Consulting, during the entirity of TAPS operation up untill now. He became a Go-To Resource, should any geotechnical issue develop. Tom maintained records and recall contributing to many solutions where Alyeska resources became imperfect over the years. Tom has always been there for TAPS over its entire 50+ year history. His contributions have been paramount. His departure is irreplacable, and he will be deeply missed. I will miss my friend.
Greg Kinney
I didn't get to know Tom until his second tour through Alaska, starting in 2002, when - if I recall correctly - he came back to Golder's Anchorage office to help Bucky Tart make his transition to retirement. I was privileged to work with Tom on a volunteer level. He was, as his obituary noted, an exceptionally productive contributor to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), serving for many years in a governance capacity. He was, as he said, a "lifer" who would always show up to help, long after his terms as president or regional governor had past. He was also a mentor to many younger engineers. But his true passion was in the technical realm, as a geotechnical engineer and leading practitioner of cold regions engineering, which was his primary focus in ASCE. Last fall, we had a one day offsite symposium on the changing climate impacts to TAPS, where we also explored how TAPS was designed to adapt, and Tom was one of the key presenters. He had also been planning to moderate a session at this year's Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, and I had been working with him on a presentation on TAPS history from inception to the present. It's sad that we could not meet up for that, but in the end I am glad that I had the chance to know and work with him.
Tom set an outstanding example on many levels and, in doing so, he made a difference.
Ed Clarke
Tom and I were part of the design team in Houston and Anchorage. We participated in solveing many problems during constuction. Tom and Carol moved to the Seattle office of Dames and Moore. At that time we were involved in the Nothwest interface with Alyeska and made numerous trip up and down the line as well as Washington DC and Houston.
Tom was a great organizer of ASCE conferences. I attended oone in Duluth which included a tour of an ore carrier and a talk on a snow runway at McMurdo im Antarrctia. He was a good friend and we will miss him.