Ralph Lester Wadsworth, founder of Salt Lake City-based Ralph L. Wadsworth Construction, died on December 25, 2025. He was 91 years old.
A graduate of the University of Idaho, he founded the heavy construction and civil company in 1975 and is a former CEO. Wadsworth was named the winner of the ENR Mountain States Legacy Award earlier in December for the Intermountain region in recognition of his achievements in the architecture, engineering and construction industry.
A pioneer in accelerated bridge construction, he gained national recognition for introducing innovative methods such as moving entire bridges into place overnight to minimize traffic disruptions. Wadsworth was involved in many high-profile transportation projects throughout Utah, including the $1 billion I-15 CORE project and the bobsleigh and luge tracks for the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics. He was also widely known for his philanthropy, including the creation of the National Guard Charitable Trust Fund in the 1990s and his work to fund and build a Boys and Girls Club. He designed and built the Bear Canyon Suspension Bridge on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, which he donated to his hometown of Draper, Utah, in 2015.
Wadsworth received the prestigious Eric W. Ryberg Award from the Associated General Contractors of Utah in 2021 for outstanding service to the industry. Among his seven children with late wife Peggy, Tod Wadsworth is executive vice president of Ralph L. Wadsworth Construction and Kip Wadsworth, who is its former president and CEO, now heads the Wadsworth Development Group.
