In Memoriam: Earl Downey Brill, Jr.

Earl Downey Brill, Jr., beloved husband, father, grandfather, son and CCEE Professor Emeritus, died unexpectedly in Greenville, North Carolina, on August 6, 2024, following a fall four days earlier in Oriental, North Carolina. Downey was born on August 16, 1947, in Woodstock, Virginia, to Earl Downey Brill and Frances Jones Brill. He graduated from James Madison High School in Vienna, Virginia,, received a B.S. degree in civil engineering from Cornell University and a Ph.D. degree in environmental engineering from The Johns Hopkins University. He married Eileen Weber, a Cornell classmate, in 1969; she predeceased him in 1972. In 1975, he married Anne Wentworth. Downey’s focused devotion to his family and his profession were the defining features of his remarkable life.

Downey began his academic career in 1972 at the University of Ilinois Urbana-Champaign
where he rose to the rank of professor in 1982. He joined North Carolina State University in
1988 when he became department head of civil engineering for seventeen years, one of
the longest serving department heads at NC State University. During his tenure as
department head, the department experienced high growth in both undergraduate and
graduate programs as well as in faculty positions. He considered himself fortunate to work
with amazing faculty and students, as well as highly dedicated administrative teams who
embodied wisdom, selflessness, and the utmost collegiality. He also served as director of
the Center for Transportation and the Environment from 2005-2016 and interim director of
the Institute for Transportation Research and Education from 2016-2018 before retiring in 2019.

Downey’s research expertise was in the development of optimization models and
their application to environmental engineering systems. A distinguished researcher, he
was awarded the Huber Prize in 1987 by the American Society of Civil Engineers, and
received the Croes Medal twice from the Environmental and Water Resources Institute for
best research paper in 1993 and in 2011. From 1985-1991, he was a member of the U.S.
Army Science Research Board. He also served on the editorial board of several
professional journals.

Fond family memories of Downey include his special love for chocolate (a major food
group for him), for his three labrador retrievers, for lunches with colleagues at Mitch’s for
35 years, and for the challenge of trying to fix most house and car maintenance problems
before giving up and calling a professional.

Downey is survived by Anne, his wife of 49 years, his children Mary (Karim), Meredith Brierly
(Frank) and Downey (Lauren); grandchildren Evan, Alex, Parker and Chase Brierly, and
Samantha DiMartino; mother, Frances Brill; sister, Deborah MacDonald (David) and
nephews, a niece and many cousins.

The family will receive friends at Brown Wynne Funeral Home, 200 S.E. Maynard, Cary, North Carolina, on Friday August 23, 2024 from 5-8 p.m. A Celebration of Life service will be held at the Woodstock United Methodist Church in Woodstock, Virginia, on Sunday, August 25, 2024, at 3 p.m. with interment following at Massanutten Cemetery, Woodstock, Virginia. Any desired
donations may be made to the North Carolina State Engineering Foundation for the benefit
of the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, NCSU Engineering Foundation, 4220 Fitts-Wollard Hall, Box 7901, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C. 27695-7901 or to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, 1250 Fourth
Street, Santa Monica, C.A. 90401