The Canadian Society for Civil Engineering awards the A. B. Sanderson Award annually to recognize ‘outstanding contributions by a civil engineer to the development and practice of structural engineering in Canada’. This paper briefly explores Sanderson’s life and career designing and constructing highway and railway bridges, developing specialized knowledge in river channel stability, deep water piers, scour, and ice forces on structures. Born in England, ‘Sandy’ emigrated with his family to Canada in 1919. He earned his Applied Science (Civil Engineering) degree from the University of British Columbia in 1933 and subsequently worked with several firms including the Dominion Bridge Company in Vancouver. He then served in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II, returning to work with the B.C. Department of Public Works, where he reportedly was involved in approximately 160 bridge projects, including serving as design engineer for the first prestressed concrete highway bridge in Canada. In 1955, he founded ‘A. B. Sanderson & Company Ltd.’, which quickly became a prolific bridge design firm that also specialized in the design of astronomical observatories. He designed numerous large steel cantilever, truss, and arch bridges for river crossings on major highways and railways needed for the development of the BC Interior. The firm also designed landmark bridges in Victoria (Point Ellis and Gorge Bridges), Ottawa (the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge) and on the Alaska Highway (the reconstruction of the Peace River Bridge after the suspension bridge collapse in 1957). In 1958, he succeeded the late Dr. P. L. Pratley as Engineering Consultant and Advisor to the Royal Commission of Inquiry on the Second Narrows Bridge Collapse. He was elected President of the Association of Professional Engineers of British Columbia in 1962. A. B. Sanderson & Company Ltd. merged with Ker, Priestman and Associates in the early 1970s where Sandy continued to consult.