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WHEREAS, Italo V. "Ody" Mackin was born in the Italian village of Persariis in the Italian Alps before coming to the United States and settling in Pennsylvania; and,
WHEREAS, as a young man, Ody served in the U.S. Army in World War II. He served his country valiantly during his military service, including 27 months in the Pacific Theater. Upon his discharge from the military, Ody took advantage of the G.I. Bill and attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology - which later became Carnegie Mellon University - to study civil engineering; and,
WHEREAS, Ody went on to have a long and highly distinguished career in the engineering field that spanned more than six decades. His distinct and impressive capacity as an engineer can still be observed in Pittsburgh with projects such as the Point Park Portal Bridge, which was the first of its kind in the country, and across stateliness, with projects such as the Delaware River Turnpike Bridge, which connects Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He also gained notoriety for his work on the Ohio and Indiana Turnpikes, as well as with the Pennsylvania Department of Highways, the predecessor to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT); and,
WHEREAS, he formed Mackin Engineering Company, which offered engineering and consulting services for more than 50 years. Ody's leadership and talent were well-known, and manifested in the work that he did for all 11 engineering districts of PennDOT, Allegheny County, the City of Pittsburgh, multiple municipalities across Pennsylvania, and other public and private clients; and
WHEREAS, in 1980, Ody served as the President of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC/PA), an organization that chose to honor him with its most esteemed award, the Distinguished Award of Merit, in 1999. In 2012, the Airport Corridor Transportation Association (ACTA) honored him with the Distinguished Service Award. And, most recently, in 2014, Ody was honored with the Distinguished A...
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