Manuel Fine Civil Engineering Scholarship

The Manuel Fine Civil Engineering Scholarship Fund was established in 2013 through a $25,000 donation from the Heavy Construction Association of Ontario and a $25,000 donation from the Ontario Association of Foundation Specialists. This was followed by similar donations from the Heavy Construction Association of Toronto and from Bermingham Foundation Solutions. The fund honors Manuel Fine, who served DFI for 24 years in many roles, including trustee, president, executive director, managing editor of Deep Foundations magazine and as publisher of the DFI Journal. The fund provides scholarships only for civil engineering students attending universities in the Province of Ontario.

This scholarship has a dedicated application. See Application Instructions for details.

The 2024 Application period is closed. The 2025 Application period will open Fall 2025.

Manuel Fine (1929-2018)

Manny Fine’s civil engineering career began at the University of Toronto and continued to 2017, when he finally opted for full retirement. Fine spent 23 years with the Bermingham Group of Companies, where he served as president of Berminghammer Corporation Limited and vice president of Bermingham Construction Limited.

Fine had longstanding involvement with DFI; he first served as chair of the 1987 Annual Meeting in Hamilton, Ontario, and later became chair of the Meetings Advisory Committee, the Equipment Applications Committee and Driven Pile Committee. He served on the Board of Trustees, then as vice president and president of DFI. In 1995, he became executive director of DFI, until 1998.

Continuing as editor of the DFI Newsletter Fulcrum, Fine developed the publication into Deep Foundations, DFI’s flagship magazine. In 2008, he resigned from that role and became publisher of the DFI Journal, a position he held through 2013.

Concurrently, Fine served as executive director of the Heavy Construction Association of Toronto, the Heavy Construction Association of Ontario and the Ontario Association of Foundation Specialists, retiring from that latter position at the end of 2016.

Fine was a member of Professional Engineers, Ontario, a fellow of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers, a member of the Canadian Geotechnical Society (having served on the Executive of CGS’ Southern Ontario Section) and a member of the Engineering Institute of Canada.

During his long career, Fine received numerous honors, including the DFI Distinguished Service Award in 1998, the Southern Ontario Award by the Canadian Geotechnical Society in 2006 and the Engineering Alumni Hall of Distinction Award by the University of Toronto in 2010.

He died on December 2, 2018, at age 89.

Manuel Fine Civil Engineering Scholarship
Founding Donors

Premier
Bermingham Foundation Solutions
Heavy Construction Association of Ontario
Heavy Construction Association of Toronto
Ontario Association of Foundation Specialists