Jay B. Ames' Obituary
Jay B. Ames of Valencia Lakes died on Sunday, October 8, 2017 at the age of 87. Mr. Ames was a renowned civil engineer. He was born May 25, 1930, in Brooklyn, NY to Louis and Minnie Ames. He received a Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering from the City College of New York in 1952. He then obtained a Masters Degree in Civil Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1955 (now part of NYU) attending at night while working full time. Mr. Ames was a Licensed Professional Engineer in NY, NJ, CT, MA, OH, RI, MD, FL, VT, PA, IL and Washington DC. He was elected a Fellow in the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2009. Mr Ames was a Principal and shareholder for the greater part of his 42 year professional career, which covered an estimated over two billion dollars worth of designed projects.
In the firms where Mr. Ames was in responsible charge, the titles he held were as follows included: Ames & Selnick-Founding Partner; Phisterer & Tor-Partner; Baldwin & Cornelius-Senior Vice President, GCE-President. Mr Ames completed his professional career by taking a position in public service with the New York City Board of Education as Director of Design & Construction, Division of School Buildings, the largest public school system in the U.S. He served at the Board of Education for six years, before retiring permanently from his profession.
In his earliest years, in the 1950’s, Ames worked for the firm of Ammann & Whitney, where he worked on the iconic TWA Terminal Building at JFK (then Idlewild) designed by architect Eero Saarinen. In addition, he worked on the TWA and Pan Am Hangars, of newly configured buildings to service the newly built Boeing 747 airliners. Mr. Ames worked on another Eero Saarinen project, The Milwaukee War Memorial Building, part of the Library of Congress.
While the total list of projects Mr. Ames designed and was in responsible charge is too long to list, a variety of buildings in various categories will be presented, and can be seen in N.Y., around the U.S. and overseas. In addition to Mr. Saarinen, Mr. Ames had the good fortune to work with such noted architectural firms as HOK, I. M. Pei, Curtis & Davis, and John Carl Warneke. Mr. Ames was in responsible charge of the following corporate facilities: IBM total complex Burlington, VT; IBM office of buildings in Gaithersburg, MD and Endicott, NY; Exxon Research and Engineering Complex, Clinton, NJ; Johnson & Johnson, Ortho Headquarters Building, Raritan, NJ; Grumman Headquarters Building, Bethpage, NY; Delco Remy-General Motors, New Brunswick, NJ; SONY Corp-Headquarters Building, Parkridge, NJ.
Mr. Ames was a Principal on the following tall tower office Buildings: 101 Park Avenue, NYC; Republic National Bank of NY, Fifth Avenue, NYC; One Oxford Center, Pittsburgh, PA; Capsouth Office Building, Columbus, OH; U.S Embassy Residential Buildings in Zamalek and Ma’adi, Cairo, Egypt. He designed 29 hospitals including the largest addition to the VA Hospital in NYC. Mr. Ames established the structural framing system for this project, not usually used in hospitals; Kent Hospital in Dover, DE; St Josephs Hospital in Yonkers, NY; Medical & Surgical Building, Rome State School, Rome, NY; National Institute of Health Research Center, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Mr Ames, as a private consultant designed more than a dozen schools for the NYC Board of Education, including the Martin Luther King, Jr. High School in the heart of Lincoln Center. He designed the Bergdorf Goodman Department Store in White Plains, NY (now Neiman Marcus), Bloomingdales in King of Prussia, PA and Willow Grove, PA. He prepared preliminary plans, made trips to and held meetings for hotels in Aruba, NA and for Chandris Cruise Lines for hotel and casino; an HCA Hotel, in Hamburg, Germany; The Philedia Hotel, Philadelphia, PA.
On a more personal note, Jay Ames met his wife Irene (nee Rosen) Ames in 1946, when she was 14 and he was 16. They went together for six years and were married for fifty nine years. After their children went off to college, Irene Ames desired to make a meaningful contribution and took a position with the American Cancer Society, LI Branch, where she worked for fifteen years. She died in August 2011 at the age of 79, always giving and receiving love at home and in her job. Irene & Jay Ames lived in Dix Hills, NY for twenty-eight years before retiring to Palm Beach County, FL in 1997.
Mr. Ames was a Mason for sixty years and a Past Master of his Masonic Lodge, Zeredatha #483, NY.
Jay B. and Irene Ames are survived by their son Mark Ames, daughter Robin Ames, son Jonathan Ames and his wife Jill Ames, three grandsons Jesse Ames, Harrison Ames, Justin Ames; and a brother Michael Ames. Mr Ames will be entombed in a mausoleum next to his wife, located in the Eternal Light Cemetery in West Boynton, Boynton Beach, FL.
Those wishing to make a memorial contribution in his memory are asked to kindly consider the American Cancer Society, PO Box 22478 Oklahoma City, OK 73123.
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