Distinguished Engineer
Hometown: Alpena
Civil Engineering,
Mark E. Barber worked for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on the Coulee Dam in Washington in 1940 and on the Friant Dam in California in 1941 during and after his graduation from South Dakota State College. He was called into active military service in 1942 and by 1946 had become a Battalion Commander. He served again in the Korean conflict and retired as Lieutenant Colonel from the U.S. Army Reserved. In 1946, he returned to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation as construction engineer on the Angostura Dam near Hot Springs. He moved to Vermillion in 1952 to work on power lines for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and became city engineer in Vermillion in 1955. Barber joined the Denver Water Department in 1956 in Denver with his first position as chief of construction placing him in direct charge of investigation and construction of a $100 million expansion project and supervisor of approximately 700 employees. He worked as chief of operations and director of engineering and construction for the Denver Water Board in Denver until 1975. He was a registered professional engineer and land surveyor in Colorado, a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and a member of the American Water Works Association.