Gerhard Jack Zunz

Infobox Engineer


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name = Gerhard Jack Zunz
nationality = South African
birth_date =
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discipline = Structural engineer
institutions = Institution of Structural Engineers
practice_name = Ove Arup & Partners
significant_projects = Sydney Opera House
significant_design =
significant_awards = IStructE Gold Medal

Sir Gerhard Jack Zunz, BSc, FEng, FIStructE, FICE (born 25 Dec 1923) is a structural engineer and former chairman of Ove Arup & Partners. He was the principal structural designer of the Sydney Opera House.

Career

Jack Zunz obtained a degree in civil engineering from University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in 1948 after interrupting his studies for WWII.

In 1950 he started to work with Ove Arup.

In the mid-50s he returned to South Africa to start an office of Ove Arup & Partners in Johannesburg. He stayed in South Africa until the infamous Sharpeville massacre happened. As he states on the Arup website [http://www.arup.com/arup/feature.cfm?pageid=8983] :

:"The South African firm was just taking off when Sharpeville happened and I wasn't prepared to live in that society any more. So I came back to the UK in 1961 and started working on the Sydney Opera House, among other projects. I was an associate partner at that point."

After working on the Sydney Opera House in London for some time, he took over leadership of the structural design team when it moved to Australia.

He became a senior partner of Ove Arup and Partners in 1965, and was a driving force behind moves to change the ownership of the firm to a trust, with the stock held in trust for its staff. [http://www.arup.com/arup/feature.cfm?pageid=8983] In 1977 Zunz became chairman of the newly organised firm.

Zunz is a patron of the Commonwealth Jewish Council.

Awards

Jack Zunz was awarded the IStructE Gold Medal in 1988, and was knighted in 1989.