Former Boise State engineering instructor and consultant dies at 95

Dave Small in 1983

William David Small died on July 16, 2024, at his home on the edge of the Pacific Ocean in Sequim, Wash. He passed at 95 after a brief physical decline at the end of a long life.

Small had extensive experience in academia and the professional world. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Harvard University and finished his Ph.D. in geophysics at the University of British Columbia. After graduating, he worked as an engineer for several prestigious firms, including Morrison-Knudsen in Boise.

Small merged the academic and professional sides of his career at Boise State, where he served as an Industrial Hygiene Consultant for an OSHA grant from 1983 to 1989 and an adjunct instructor in engineering throughout the '80s and '90s. He brought his engineering experience to the university at a transformative time, shortly before the College of Engineering was established to meet growing industry demand.

In 1997, he worked with Charlie Gains, an associate professor in the then-Department of Construction Management and Engineering to lead students in experiential learning. The pair deployed their combined expertise in engineering and geophysics to build a well near a campus parking lot, showing students just how close to the surface groundwater could appear and the danger it could present on construction projects.

Small was predeceased by his wife and the mother of his five children, Eleanor White Small. He is survived by his companion, Joan Krogh; brother Donald A. Small; and his children: Susan Small Daggett, Daniel H. Small, Abigail Small Kennedy, Jonathan "Jack" A. Small and Ann E. Böhm-Small.

The family will hold a memorial gathering in 2025 in Castine, Maine, to inter his ashes near his parents and his wife.

Share This

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share through Email