Ronald Neufeld, who was instrumental in forming Pitt’s accredited environmental engineering program during his 40-year faculty career (1973-2013) in the Swanson School of Engineering, died Dec. 5, 2025.
Leonard Casson, Neufeld’s environmental engineering faculty colleague since 1987 and now associate professor emeritus, recalled that the department was only granting master’s degrees — not yet PhDs — when they began to build the program. Neufeld, he said, “helped make the department what it is today, and it was the foundation for when we hired” more faculty in environmental engineering, to expand its offerings.
Neufeld became a board-certified environmental engineer through the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists, and encouraged Casson to do the same. Neufeld also became a commissioner on the accreditation board for engineering and technology, which provides accreditation for engineering programs around the world, which signaled wide recognition of his accomplishments.
“Ron was very highly thought of both in Pittsburgh and nationally,” Casson said. “He was pivotal to our program. Ron was a big part of changing that foundation in the eighties with me,” bringing the environmental engineering program from a subdivision of civil engineering to an accredited, degree-granting program.
Neufeld’s research was very broad, Casson said: “He had to be a jack of all trades,” and “between the two of us we had to cover lots of areas,” including, in Neufeld’s case, working to bridge the gap between engineering and public health in the study of everything from wastewater effluents and disinfection processes to air pollution.
As a teacher, Casson said, “Ron’s impact is the people who got their master’s and PhD’s from here. He always wanted the best for the department and everybody.”
Indeed, said former department chair Radisav Vidic — who joined Pitt in 1992, when Neufeld was in the middle of his career — as a teacher, Neufeld “had a lot of practical experience and everything he did reflected his deep understanding of the practice: Why does this matter? How are you going to deal with this in real life? He was not one of those guys doing science for the sake of science. He was a true engineer.”
This was reflected in Neufeld’s research, Vidic said, including his work on abandoned mine drainage across the years for the state Department of Transportation’s remediation projects. “He was always looking with that view of how do we make a difference and solve a lot of problems.”
Neufeld studied how fly ash might be made into lightweight concrete — Will it work? Will it pollute more or less? — and researched combined-sewer overflow treatment options for the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority. “It was very applied and with an eye toward the real applications,” Vidic said.
“He was a very experienced guy and very well thought out person,” he added, explaining: “He won’t give you an answer right away, but he will come back to you” with a suggestion that he has reasoned through. “He was very considerate, and everything he said, he had a reason.”
Neufeld completed his undergraduate education at Cooper Union in New York City, then earned his master’s and PhD degrees at Northwestern. In 2012, he was named a fellow of the Water Environment Federation for his career achievements and impact on his field. He retired as professor emeritus of civil & environmental engineering.
He is survived by wife Toby Heringer Neufeld; children Jen Neufeld Cohen, Steven Neufeld (Gayle Koppelman Neufeld) and Todd Neufeld (Sheryl Kamholz Neufeld); grandchildren Ethan Neufeld, Shira Neufeld, Zoe Neufeld, Maya Neufeld, Amitai Cohen and Tamar Cohen; and sister Susan Neufeld Fuchs (Howard Fuchs).
— Marty Levine