Mining Feature: Remembering former Associate Director Lew Wade

Friday, April 27, 2018

Dr. Lewis V. Wade passed away on April 22, 2018. We at the NIOSH Mining Program are deeply saddened by his death.

Dr. Wade was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He earned his BS degree in civil engineering from Manhattan College in 1967, an MS degree in civil engineering in 1968, and began his professional career with the Bureau of Mines in 1971, following the completion of his PhD in civil engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. During his 25-year tenure with the Bureau of Mines, he worked on a variety of research including roof control and rock mechanics. He conducted the initial research investigations on design and performance of longwall mining systems with a focus on shield supports for ground control. Lew held several managerial research positions, rising up through the ranks. He finished his career with the Bureau of Mines as the research director of the Twin Cities Research Center, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Associate Director for Research, in Washington, D.C., when the Bureau of Mines was disbanded in 1996.

He then spent five years managing information technology systems for the Water Resources Division of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and was responsible for the USGS Yucca Mountain project for the Department of Energy high-level nuclear waste site effort.

In 2000, he became the Associate Director for Mining in the Office for Mine Safety and Health Research, for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

He became the NIOSH Senior Science Advisor in 2004, and was instrumental in guiding NIOSH and its staff as it worked to create a new program established by the Energy Employees Occupational Illness and Compensation Program Act of 2000 and its Presidential Advisory Board for Radiation and Worker Health (ABRWH). He became the designated federal official for the ABRWH and the technical project officer for the board’s contract with Sanford Cohen & Associates for technical support.

With the passage of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010, Lew served as a senior advisor to guide, develop and implement NIOSH’s responsibilities as the administrative body for the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP). After his retirement from NIOSH in 2008, he continued to provide his wise counsel to NIOSH’s WTC Health Program and Mining Program as a contract employee.