The Cooper Union and the Albert Nerken School of Engineering lost a distinguished colleague and staunch student advocate with the passing of Professor Vito Guido, the George Fox Chair of Civil Engineering, on September 3. Professor Guido was an esteemed member of the School of Engineering, having joined Cooper as an assistant professor in 1979. He was dedicated to advising our master’s thesis students and civil engineering’s senior capstone design course; he oversaw the completion of more than 60 master's theses and was awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award for the Metropolitan District by Chi Epsilon. Most recently, he played a critical role in re-imagining Cooper's course scheduling to allow for block scheduling which, beginning this semester, has opened the door for more interdisciplinary learning. 

Professor Guido grew up in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn and attended Bishop Ford High School before earning his bachelor's, master's and doctorate in civil engineering at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, now part of New York University's Tandon School Engineering. 

With more than 40 years of experience in industry and teaching, Professor Guido was the coordinator of the Geotechnical Engineering program in the Department of Civil Engineering at Cooper. His interests included sustainable design and storm surge protection. He published numerous professional papers in the application of geosynthetics to foundation and drainage problems and, over the last 30 years, conducted extensive geotechnical engineering consulting in the New York metropolitan area. He was very active in the field, including as a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Order of the Engineer, North American Geosynthetics Society, International Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Chi Epsilon, and Tau Beta Pi. He was also a Fellow of ASCE, a prestigious honor held by only 3% of ASCE members that designates celebrated contributions and creative solutions that change lives around the world. 

In the words of School of Engineering Dean Barry Shoop: “Professor Guido was respected by colleagues and revered by his students. He was a gentle giant — his stature equally matched by the size of his heart. While an exceptional civil engineer by discipline and training, he was truly a ‘civil’ engineer, in every sense of the word.”

There will be a memorial service for Professor Guido on Wednesday, Sept. 7 from 2–4 pm and 7–9 pm at the John Vincent Scalia Home for Funerals at 28 Eltingville Boulevard on Staten Island. The funeral will be held at 10:15 am on Thursday, Sept. 8.