Remembering Jack Braun

John Stephen "Jack" Braun (BCE 1956, MS 1957) died December 12, 2020. He was 87. Most of our readers will recognize Jack as the “brawn” in Braun Intertec, a company he built up from humble beginnings in his own garage.

He started his own engineering company in 1957. Jack built his company on values of integrity, quality, and excellent client services. Braun Intertec is now an employee-owned firm that provides geotechnical engineering, environmental consulting, and testing. The firm has grown to over 1,000 employees and has offices in Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Kanas/Missouri, Texas and Louisiana. Jack was a member and former president of American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC).

All that success and Jack still remembered where he started. For over sixty years, he fostered a remarkable partnership between his company, Braun Intertec, and CEGE and the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. Jack and his wife, Priscilla, established the J. S. Braun/Braun Intertec Professorship in Science and Engineering, an endowment that allows visiting professors to come to the University to teach and do research, fostering connection and collaboration. In 2010, the University of Minnesota conferred upon Jack an Outstanding Achievement Award for his leadership in the field of civil engineering.

CEGE is proud to count Jack Braun among CEGE’s most accomplished alumni. Jack Braun’s legacy in the department will live on through the many students and faculty whose lives were touched by the investment he and Braun Intertec made over the years through  the J.S. Braun/Braun Intertec Professorship and through mentoring students and hiring them as interns and graduates.