Longtime CTC member Schulte passes away.

Fire code consultant Richard C. Schulte, a longtime and active participant with ICC's Code Technology Committee (CTC), passed away May 11 at the age of 60. Schulte attended meetings and participated in study groups with ICC's CTC following its inception in 2005. "You could always count on Rich to be at the CTC meetings and be an active participant," said ICC Deputy Senior Vice President of Technical Services Mike Pfeiffer. "He will be missed." Described as analytical, well-prepared and a tough proponent for public safety, Schulte used his professional experience and expertise to advocate for the built environment, especially following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that destroyed New York City's World Trade Center (WTC). "The critics' contention, among other things, was that tall buildings were unsafe even in ordinary fires because of poor design and inadequate building and life safety codes," explained Nadine M. Post, editor-at-large for the Engineering News-Record. "Schulte used his professional training as a fire-protection engineer, his experience, his research abilities and his impeccable logic to advocate, among other things, that the public was being misled into believing that tall buildings could, and should, be made terrorist-proof and that building codes were inadequate." "The WTC attacks were 'kamikaze' attacks," Schulte said. "Building codes don't address kamikaze attacks, nor should they." "(Schulte) became the courageous voice of concerned developers, designers and building-code professionals, who were themselves afraid to speak out against calls for design changes and code reform," added Post. "Schulte, gadfly to some and hero to others, had a reputation as a man of integrity and strong principle, whose opinions were sometimes contrary to prevailing thinking. Consequently, he would, on occasion, ruffle some feathers in the fire-engineering community." For more information on Schulte's passing, please click here.

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