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RICHARD S. FRANK
1914-1986
BY GORDON H. MILLAR
RICHARD S. FRANK, a leading international mechanical
engineer, director of research and engineering for Cater-
nillar Tractor Company, and a member of that company's
senior executive staff, died on August 23, 1986, at the age
of seventy-two.
From 1936 until his retirement in 1976, Dick Frank was a
major motivating force in the development of heavy equipment
technology that contributed to the Caterpillar Tractor Company
becoming the worId's premier heavy equipment manufacturer.
The technology and the products for which Dick Frank was
responsible are recognized throughout the world by their
distinctively rugged design, their impeccable reputation for
reliability, and for the corporate support structure that makes
service available for Caterpillar machines wherever they are
used.
There is no place in the world that people may travel
where they have not been preceded by Caterpillar equip-
ment ranging from the conventional crawler dozer used in
the grading of roadways to the giant earthmoving machines
and ore trucks that make the mining and transportation of
earth's resources a practical and economically attractive activity.
The distinctive Caterpillar yellow is generic to the earthmoving
equipment industry, and the wore! "Caterpillar" is synonymous
109
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
with track-laying vehicles worldwide, no matter who their
manufacturer.
The Alaska pipeline was built almost exclusively by Caterpillar
machines. These same machines do their yeoman work
not only in the Western world but also in the Soviet Union,
Near East, China, South Africa, and South America. These
machines and the technology that made them possible are
the legacy Dick Frank leaves with the engineering commu-
nity and also wherever a niche of civilization has taken
root, even in parts of the world with the most hostile climates.
Dick Frank lived his entire professional life until his re-
tirement years in the Middle West industrial heartland of
our country. He graduated from Washington University in
St. Louis with a B.S. in mechanical engineering and joined
Caterpillar that same year. He became in succession a de-
signer, supervising engineer, and general supervising engi-
neer and was appointed assistant chief engineer of engine
design in 1953.
In 1956 Dick Frank became assistant chief engineer of
tractor design and seven years later was named chief engineer
of the Joliet plant, serving in that capacity until April 1966.
That year Dick Frank was appointed assistant director of
engineering for all Caterpillar operations worldwide and in
November of the same year was named director of engineering.
Dick Frank was elected a vice-president of Caterpillar in
October 1970 and in that capacity directed all technical
operations worldwide for research, design, and manufacture.
Dick Frank retired October I, 1979, after forty-three years
of continuous service and technical contribution to Caterpillar
and the heavy equipment industry.
A major challenge in the later years of Dick Frank's ac-
tive leadership was guiding Caterpillar technology to parry
the thrust of heavy equipment producers from Europe and
the Asian countries. Through Dick Frank's effective lead-
ership, the Caterpillar organization met the competitive
challenge head-on, and today remains the recognized leader
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RICHARD S. FRANK
111
of heavy equipment manufacture throughout the world.
The advanced product technology, development of advanced
manufacturing techniques, continued development and
recognition of employee skills, and the astute management
of corporate assets places Caterpillar Tractor Company in
the unique position of remaining a dominant North American
force in the production of heavy equipment worldwide and
an ongoing factor in making a positive contribution to the
balance of trade for the United States.
Richard S. Frank was an active member of the Society of
Automotive Engineers and one of the founders with G.
Edwin Burks of the Earthmoving Conference in Peoria, which
is recognizes! throughout the world as the single most important
technical conference devoted to the heavy equipment industry.
Richard Frank was also a fellow in the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers and a director of the Lubricant Review
Institute Board. It was through his work at the Caterpillar
Tractor Company that definitive standards were established
to measure the quality of lubricating of} for use in heavy
duty diesel engines associates! with the heavy equipment
industry.
Richard Frank was active in community affairs, a member
of the Peoria Chamber of Commerce, and a director of the
Riverfront Action Forum of the Tricounty Planning Commission
in Central Illinois. He was involved with Bradley University
in Peoria and clevelopecI a close working relationship between
Bradley and the Caterpillar Tractor Company that provided
for a free exchange of information between the local academic
world and industry.
Despite his intense corporate posture and his focus on
manufactured products, Richard Frank never forgot that
without solid academic engineering training, the world of
manufacturing would not move forward. He maintained
close associations with local universities and was recognized
throughout the community not only as a successful corporate
executive but also a human being of broad social understanding
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
and intellectual skills. He was an avid tennis player and
pursued the sport of tennis with the same intensity as he
pursued his career.
Richard Frank was elected to the National Academy of
Engineering in 1980 as one of a very select group of engineers
from the heavy equipment industry to become members of
the Academy. The recognition on the part of his peers
that his contributions to the world in which we live warranted
his election pays lasting tribute to his effectiveness as an
engineer, his statesmanlike quality as an administrator, and
his recognized intellectual depth. Dick Frank's memory
stands as a monument to all industrial executives and engineers
of what can be accomplished in industry with the proper
application of intellectual and practical effort.
Dick Frank is survived by his wife, Martha, three delightful
daughters, and three grandchildren. His memory remains
with all of us in the profession, and he will be rememberer!
forever by his family and all of us who were his friends as a
talented engineer, a superior executive, and a kind, warm,
and thinking human being.
The squadrons of powerful machines that daily make the
world a better place to live are Dick Frank's contribution
to an ever-expancling civilization to be enjoyed by world
populations for many years.
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