John William Bailey, president of Prospect Steel, a division of Lexicon, Inc., in Little Rock, Ark., and an AISC Board Member, passed away this past Sunday at the age of 66 after a brief fight with cancer.
John was born on November 15, 1952, in Jackson, Tenn., to parents, William Hampton and Norreen M. Cassidy Bailey. He earned two degrees from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville—a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1975 and a master's degree in structural engineering in 1977—received an Outstanding Alumnus Award from the school’s Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2000, and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in April 2017. He was a passionate fan of the Tennessee Volunteers as well as the Kansas City Chiefs. He was also an avid, if admittedly average, golfer and enjoyed beating his sons in pool—and losing to them in pinball.
John spent the majority of his career focused on steel fabrication and erection. He joined Prospect as president in 2000 and before that, spent 14 years as the COO of Havens Steel Company in Kansas City, Mo. In addition to his duties with AISC, he also served on the Board of the Central Fabricators Association.
Read the full Press Release from AISC here.