Alfred McNeill, Turner Co. CEO, dies

ALFRED T. McNeill, retired chairman and chief executive officer of the Turner Corp. who, as head of the Philadelphia office of the construction company in the '70s worked to ensure that minority and women-owned businesses got their fair share of city building projects, died Tuesday of cancer. He was 71 and lived in Yardley.

McNeill, a self-confessed "workaholic" who often was so busy he could see his wife and 10 children only on weekends - if then - rose through the ranks of the company from his start as a field engineer in 1958 to run the multibillion-dollar construction giant.

As president and CEO, he led the company through some rocky times in the '80s, when attempts at diversification proved disappointing.

He said the company hit "a few bumps in the road" during that period and decided to return to its main focus on construction.

He was given the additional position of chairman of the board in 1989. He retired in 1996.

While serving as vice president and general manager of the Philadelphia office in the '70s, McNeill was responsible for the building of many significant projects in the city, including the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Building in Penn Center and the Four Seasons Hotel.

Turner was the general contractor in projects that put into action the city's rules on minority and women participation in building projects.

McNeill joined Turner shortly after graduating from Lehigh University with a degree in civil engineering. His early assignments were in the New York and Cincinnati offices.

In 1973, he was named vice president of operations for New York, and in 1975, vice president and general manager of the Philadelphia office.

From 1981 to 1985, he served as senior vice president for Turner's northeast region. He was elected to the board of directors of the Turner Corp. and then president and CEO of its subsidiary, Turner Construction Co., in 1985.

He was given the added responsibility of chief operating officer in 1986 with oversight of the company's international operations.

Among major projects completed under his watch were the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, the Los Angeles County/University of Southern California Medical Center, Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, the Museum of Broadcasting in New York, the Yale Center for Molecular Medicine and the Rutgers Center for Molecular & Behavorial Neuroscience in Newark.

In 2002, he was named to head the New Jersey Schools Corp., a corporate structure started by then-Gov. James McGreevey to eliminate delays in the state's $8.6-billion school-construction program. He ran the group until 2003.

Also in his retirement years, he served as president and CEO of American International Contractors, chairman and CEO of the J.A. Jones Construction Group and president of Global Construction Solutions LLC.

McNeill was a captain in the Army Reserves, and co-authored a book, "Construction Management for the General Contractor."

He grew up in the Hillside, N.J., area and was a graduate of Hillside High School.

He is survived by his second wife, the former Dorothy Keidat; six daughters, Mary Ivanoski, Gabrielle Hensley, Elizabeth Stollsteimer, Catherine Cassavaugh, Gwyneth McNeill and Laura McNeill; four sons, Matthew, Christopher, Peter and Bartholomew; a brother, Don McNeill; 21 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Services: Funeral Mass 10 a.m. Monday at Church of St. Andrew, Newtown, Pa.

Friends may call at 6 p.m. Sunday at the Fluehr Funeral Home in Richboro. Burial will be in the Newtown Cemetery. *