Paul A. Faulkner

Paul A. Faulkner was born in Barbourville, Kentucky, and grew up in Somerset where he graduated from high school. After serving in the US Army, he entered the University of Kentucky where he earned a BS in Civil Engineering in 1951. In 1954, while employed with the Kentucky Department of Highways in Frankfort, he was awarded a graduate scholarship by UK’s Department of Civil Engineering. Subsequently, he was transferred to UK’s Lexington campus and earned his MS in Civil Engineering. In 1955, Faulkner was transferred to Louisville where he worked as a resident engineer and a district construction engineer. In 1962, he joined Ruby Construction Company as chief engineer and remained with the company until 1983. During his employment with that company, he was involved with the construction of a majority of the expressway system in the Louisville metropolitan area, I-64 in Lexington, I-75 in Northern Kentucky, I-65 in Kentucky and Indiana, most of the toll road system in Kentucky, and several Corps of Engineer jobs, airport projects, and several major sewer projects. In the mid-70s, Ruby formed its subsidiary, Rural Mining Company. Faulkner, as president, moved to Pikeville to operate the strip mining company until 1977 when he returned to Louisville and the construction industry. In 1983, he became president and CEO of Faulkner Construction.

He served as president of the Louisville Chapter of Associated General Contractors (AGC) and of Highway Contractors, Inc., and chair of AGC of Kentucky. In 1997, he served as chair of the Kentucky Association of Highway Contractors. He was a Fellow of the University of Kentucky, a founder of the Quadrangle Society, a charter member of the Construction Management Society, a registered engineer, and a member of the Kentucky Society of Professional Engineers. As a faithful member of Christ Church United Methodist, he served on its official board.

Faulkner received the Kentucky Construction Management Society Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993, the Entrepreneur of the Year in Construction for Kentucky and Southern Indiana in 1994, the University of Kentucky Civil Engineering Career Achievement Award in 1996, the Governor’s Outstanding Kentuckian Award in 1998.
His family includes his wife, Margaret; one son, David, president of Faulkner Construction; one daughter, Paula Faulkner Browne; and two grandchildren, Elly Anderson Faulkner and Leece Paul Faulkner.

Faulkner died November 1, 1999, after a long battle with cancer.