About our Founder
The Berger Charitable Foundation was launched in celebration of the company’s 60th anniversary and to commemorate the combined legacies of Dr. Louis ("Doc") Berger, founder of Louis Berger (now a part of WSP), and his son Fred Berger, who carried forward a family and corporate tradition of charitable giving until his passing in April 2015.
Beginning his career with a three-week assignment in 1972 that turned into a three-year adventure in Nigeria, Fred fostered a deep belief that engineering and community development went hand-in-hand, and committed his life and career to embedding that sense of global responsibility within the engineering community. By the time of his death in 2015 from pancreatic cancer, Fred had worked on four continents and managed projects in nearly 70 countries.
“The more countries I worked in, the more it reinforced my belief that engineers, to be useful in the 21st century, need to have international experience and a global perspective,” Fred shared in a 2009 interview at Tufts University where he also served on the board of overseers. This belief would serve as a driving theme in his career as he would dedicate his life to advancing globalization within the engineering and development fields.
Fred’s belief in the essential role of engineering in global development would serve as a driving theme in his career as he dedicated his life to advancing globalization within the engineering and development fields. By the time of his death in 2015 from pancreatic cancer, Fred had worked on four continents and managed projects in nearly 70 countries. Fred’s extensive engagement in industry associations, education, and government advisory committees has helped to shape an evolving global industry.
One of Fred’s proudest achievements during his more than 40-year career, was his role as a founding trustee of the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF), the only coeducational, independent, private university in Afghanistan. Fred’s deep commitment to expanding equitable access to quality STEM education across the globe compelled him to take an active role in the creation of AUAF from the early stages of concept, design, and fundraising through the founding in 2004 to the first graduation in 2011, and beyond. The Berger Charitable Foundation proudly carries on that partnership with AUAF in Fred’s honor.