Richard T. ”Dick” Dewling with his wife,, Dolores, who predeceased him in 2017
Editor’s Note: Fred N. Rubel, M.S., QEP, (Manager Special Projects & Principal at Environmental Consulting, Inc.) was a close associate of Dick Dewling for many years. He kindly provided the information below. –FB
Richard T. Dewling, P.E., Ph.D., passed away on Sunday, November 22, 2020 at his home in New Jersey at the age of 84 after experiencing health issues that he could not overcome.
His distinguished career included working in the environmental profession for entities that preceded the establishment of the U.S. EPA, and he was among the first professionals that staffed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency when it was first established in 1970. In 1973 he was appointed Director, Surveillance and Analysis Division for the U.S. EPA Region 2. This was the technical arm of the EPA that developed and employed analytical methods for detecting pollution, as well as conducting studies to determine the magnitude of industrial and municipal pollution in Region 2. In 1978, he was appointed Deputy Regional Administrator for EPA, Region 2 and held that position until 1983. During that time he also served as Acting Regional Administrator for almost three years.
In 1983 he became First Deputy Commissioner, and then Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
Some of the interesting challenges that Dick had to deal with during his government years that some might recall included:
- Establishing and operating the OHMSETT facility in Leonardo, NJ in 1974.
- Regulating ocean dumping in the NY Bight, and then helping to bring ocean dumping to an end.
- Public outrage over repeated beaching of waves of trash, medical wastes, alleged sludge balls and other wastes that washed up on Long Island and New Jersey beaches.
- The public health crises and government response to Love Canal – 1978 and beyond, including the holding of at least one EPA employee essentially as a hostage by local residents.
- The advent of the first RCRA regulations in 1980.
- Promoting efforts to get massive volumes of untreated sewage entering the Hudson River from the west side of Manhattan treated.
- Waste disposal issues that included the disposition of low level radioactive soils, and the ‘Garbage Barge’ that no one wanted.
- Investigating horrid intermittent odors that prompted citizen complaints and Congressional inquiries, Staten Island, NY.
- Initial searches in anticipation of Superfund for and listing of numerous uncontrolled chemical disposal sites, including PAS in Oswego, NY, Kin Buc and the LiPari Landfill in NJ.
- The fire and explosion at the Chemical Control site in Elizabeth, NJ in April of 1980.
- The advent of Superfund after December, 1980.
- The government response to radioactive (radium) contamination of residential properties in Glen Ridge and Orange, NJ.
- The identification of highly toxic dioxin that was found to have spread in areas of Newark, NJ.
- Getting the extensive, long running underground fire at the P.J.P. Landfill in Jersey City, NJ extinguished.
Always a ‘mover and a shaker’ in 1988 he became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Metcalf & Eddy, Inc., a nation-wide environmental engineering firm. Dick established his own consulting and engineering firm, Dewling Associates, in 1993. For more than 25 years he and a cadre of other professionals, provided environmental consulting and engineering services to clients throughout the U.S. Dick was predeceased in passing by his wife Dolores, and is survived by his three children, their spouses, and many grandchildren, all of whom he loved dearly.
There were many, many more significant environmental challenges that occurred than listed here that many no doubt could recall Dick Dewling having a role in addressing.
Obituary from Bradley and Son Funeral Homes
Dick Dewling was not someone you could easily forget. His knowledge, wit, rapid-fire delivery and political savvy were hallmarks of more than a few bright, young, Irish-American natives of Brooklyn, New York. Many of you no doubt have Dick Dewling stories to tell. If you’re one of them, use our comment block on this blog or on our Facebook page to share it with your fellow readers.
