Delon Hampton

Delon Hampton (August 23, 1933 – January 14, 2021) was an American civil engineer, educator, and business leader. He was the founder and chairman of Delon Hampton & Associates, a civil and structural engineering firm, and served as the first black president of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) from 1999 to 2000. Despite the distance and challenges, he excelled academically and graduated at just 16 years old. He briefly continued his education at Howard University before transferring to Purdue University, where he earned both his Master of Science in Civil Engineering in 1958 and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering in 1961. He then served in the U.S. Army for two years. He started teaching at Kansas State University from 1961 to 64 and briefly led the soil mechanics research program at the University of New Mexico that time. Hampton became the first African American president of the American Society of Civil Engineers from 1999 to 2000. In 2013, he published a memoir, A Life Constructed: Reflections on Breaking Barriers and Building Opportunities, about his career and efforts to support diversity in engineering.

Death and legacy Hampton died on January 14, 2021 at his home in Potomac, Maryland, his cause of death was due to Alzheimer's disease.