Earl C. Reynolds Jr. was the eighth employee in the little-known engineering company that sprouted up in Corvallis, Ore.

Fresh from World War II, and packing a master’s degree in structural engineering from Yale University, Reynolds joined the company in the late 1940s.

Reynolds, who lived in Boise, died Wednesday at age 88.

By the time of his death, CH2M Hill had grown to a worldwide company with 23,000 employees and $6.3 billion in gross revenues.

But those days lay far ahead of him when Reynolds decided to move to Boise in 1950 and open the company’s first branch office.

If he wanted to have a piece of the company, he had to take the risk, Mark Bowen, CH2M Hill’s vice president and area manager for Boise, remembers Reynolds saying about his decision to come to Boise.

Reynolds took business wherever he could. His first job was a water study for the city of Heyburn. During Reynolds’ tenure, the Boise office completed 1,200 engineering projects, company officials said.

In time, CH2M Hill in Boise would take on projects such as an evaluation of Bunker Hill in North Idaho before the cleanup of mining waste began.

Aside from his work, Reynolds was one of the Boiseans who helped give birth to the city’s Greenbelt. “He was very proud of having that for the community,” said his wife, Jodi.

In 2010, Boise CH2M Hill employees dedicated a bench in his honor along the Greenbelt near ParkCenter Boulevard, where he would walk every day.

“Earl was a hiker,” Jodi said.

Bowen remembers Reynolds as a humble man who was committed to his company and who established a legacy of helping in the community that continues in the Boise office today.

“The core thing I learned from Earl is that you have to be a net-giver, not a taker.”

Reynolds was CH2M Hill chairman from 1980 to 1983.

Funeral services are at 2 p.m. Tuesday at St. Michael’s Episcopal Cathedral at Eighth and State streets.

Bill Roberts: 377-6408