Posted on January 12, 2023
All of us at DredgeWire and in the dredging industry are saddened to hear of the passing of Douglas J Piper, age 80.
Doug had a distinguished career in the dredging industry. After a successful stint at Great Lakes Dredge and Dock, he joined Ellicott Dredges as an officer where he was involved with sales for major projects, including large, electric dredges for titanium dioxide mining in Australia, deep digging phosphate mining in Florida, coal mining in Yugoslavia, and construction of artificial islands in the Canadian Arctic for oil well drilling. He was very involved in Ellicott’s industry-leading innovations, such as the bucketwheel excavator, electric dredges and unprecedented, deep digging cutter suction dredge applications. After Ellicott, he established a dredging contracting company in Maryland with Israeli partners.
I had the privilege of traveling with Doug on many occasions to many countries and enjoyed not only his professionalism, but his indefatigable humor and optimism. If he were with us today, he would be lamenting that the University of Michigan football team missed its chance to face off against Georgia for the National Championship.
