Sad news has been received of the sudden and untimely passing of Kevin Abrams, Executive Director-Australian Society for Concrete Pavements (ASCP), on October 5, 2021.
Kevin was a very highly respected Engineer and held in the highest regard within the roads industry—in particular, matters related to concrete.
The funeral service for Kevin Abrams, held on October 13, 2021, is available at
the link and code below. You may share with anyone:
https://streaming.naoca.com.au/e/cd691ee9-15e6-4040-84e0-00c3b1c0b64b?fbclid=IwAR3rnw7GadOBQfg-Hkqw2X4nY17I-skTB3Vh9JrT0Ev1qCzOS4r1RR4hg6E
CODE: 9494
PHOTO: ASCP “2015 Concrete Pavements Conference”:
Back row: Jim Grove (ISCP), David Slingsby (ASCP), George Vorobieff (ISCP), Robert Linane (ASCP), Peter Taylor (ISCP),
Todd Myers (President ASCP), Peter Carson (Vice President ASCP)
Front row: John Figueroa (ASCP), Jeffrey Lee (ASCP), Craig Whitaker (ASCP), (4) Kevin Abrams (Executive Director ASCP),
Juan Pablo Covarrubias (ISCP), Jamie Egan (ASCP), Neeraj Buch (President ISCP), Eduardo Alcazar (ASCP)
Not present: Anna-Carin Brink (ISCP). CLICK TO ENLARGE.
Kevin graduated with 1st Class Honors and then a Masters Degree from The University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He later obtained an MBA degree from Macquarie University, in Sydney, Australia—and was awarded a “Membership Grade Life Member”. He was always destined for great things.
Kevin worked in both public and private sectors. His career began in the early 1970’s as Works Engineer-DMR at Thornleigh, Windsor, and Holbrook offices. He later worked in the Engineers Branch of the old Housing Commission.
From the mid 1980s to early 1990s, he was NSW Regional Engineer with the Cement and Concrete Association. In 1994 he worked with Geoff Ayton at RTA to write the Concrete Roundabout Design Manual that remains the definitive text on that subject.
In 1994, Kevin was National General Manager-BST (Australia). In that same year, he formed Abrams Marketing to market and distribute BST Lightweight Concrete Aggregate and other products and marketing services to the concrete construction industry. From 1985-1992 he was State Secretary-Concrete Institute of Australia (CIA) and remained on the Committee. In 1997, Kevin was elected to the National Executive and NSW Branch President-CIA. He was later elected National Vice President, then to National President-(CIA) by 2001.
Kevin’s association with the Concrete Institute of Australia (CIA) was where he made his biggest impact. For that we are indebted to a catalogue of information on him provided by the Institute CEO David Millar. He was Conference Secretary and then Chairman of the Organizing Committees-Biennial Conferences, Sydney 1991 and 1999.
Kevin served as Convenor of the Membership Committee for 12 years with a huge influence on the Institute membership benefits and activities. Between 2006 and 2016 Kevin provided a secretariat service for the Post-Tensioning Institute of Australia.
Block 1: Kevin during “Concrete 2003” with: 1) Ken Day 2) Samia Gurgius 3) Steve Evans 4) Tony Kinlay. Click to Enlarge.
Block 2: Kevin during “Concrete 2019” with: 1) Leif Wathne. Click to Enlarge.
When the Australian Society for Concrete Pavements (ASCP) was formed in 2007 he was the logical choice for Executive Director. After the working group established ASCP in October 2007, Kevin was engaged as part-time Executive Director in February 2008, then later, full-time. By the end of 2008, after a June website establishment and 4 successful forums, the National Executive Committee began forming a “Memorandum of Understanding” with the International Society for Concrete Pavements (ISCP), and had established work groups on RTA Specifications, and on Training. He led from the front providing both direction and mentoring. Through his efforts, ASCP now has strong links to similar international bodies in USA, Europe, and the Center for Pavement Engineering Education based in Melbourne. Kevin has remained Executive Director throughout the association’s 13 years until his untimely passing. (February 2008 – October 5, 2021). ASCP History: https://concretepavements.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/ASCP-Background-and-Development.pdf
David Millar, CEO-CIA, said, Kevin was also a Member of a luncheon group of former DMR Concrete “old comrades” set up by the late Ed Haber that meets a few times each year to solve the world’s problems and to hear of Kevin’s exploits at his bridge club. The following three quotes from David:
“Kevin championed the Awards for Excellence in Concrete for nearly two decades. As convenor of the Recognition of Excellence portfolio for well over 10 years he championed excellence and emphasis on adding prestige to the Institute’s Life & Honorary Memberships, and National Engineering Bursary. From 2019 he served as Chair of the Awards for Excellence in Concrete judging panel. Through Kevin’s personal drive these are now recognised nationally, within the Institute and industry.”
“After being made a Life Member of the Concrete Institute of Australia in 2005 he continued with the same passion and enthusiasm he had from day one.”
“Kevin has a wonderful way of embracing our history with a view to the future, balancing experience with change, and bringing together the old with the new. There is no-one who embodies the essence of the Concrete Institute of Australia more, nor better served to lead the CIA’s Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2020.”
David finalized his condolences by saying, “To Louise and Kevin’s other family members, all that remains for me to say on behalf of all his industry comrades and associates is that this country is a far, far, better place for Kevin having walked upon it.”
Condolences have been given on LinkedIn and show what a genuine, kind, hard-working colleague Kevin was.
P.U.: “He was an extremely genuine person, thoughtful, kind and looked after his staff. Without fail (until recently) he would send our family a Christmas card every year. He is a loss to the concrete industry (of which he was passionate) and he will be sadly missed. It was a pleasure working with him and I valued our association together after the CCAA days. May he rest in peace.”
J.F.: “Kevin was a luminary in the Concrete Institute and tireless in his contribution and passion for our awards scheme which he chaired for so many years!
He will be sadly missed.”
Ruiwen K.: “Sorry to [about Kevin’s passing]. Condolences to his family. Kevin will be sorely missed.”
D.M.: “Kevin was a shining light in the concrete industry over many decades and a dear friend to [my] family. We will miss him deeply.”
S.L.: “Very sad, as a small company we very much appreciated Kevin’s support and enjoyed our chats at conferences. RIP”
S.H.: “Very sad to hear this news and certainly a shock. He was great to work with and a real champion of rigid pavements.”
J.L.: “Kevin was an amazing engineer. His contribution to ASCP was invaluable. Prayers with him and his family.”
J.L.: “My condolences to his family. His contribution to ASCP in the last decade has always been inspirational.”
V.G.: “Very sad to hear this news. I was only talking to him a few weeks ago. A very kind man with a wealth of knowledge that he was happy to share.”
ASCP website: https://concretepavements.com.au