The new engineering building at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, for which a groundbreaking ceremony was held Friday, will be named in memory of one the city’s most well-known citizens.

Trustees of the University of Alabama System on Friday approved resolution to name the new engineering building at UAH the Raymond B. Jones Engineering Building.

Related: UAH to begin construction on $59 million College of Engineering building

Jones, a community leader and patriarch of one of Huntsville’s most prominent families, died last year at the age of 87. Jones was a former chair of the UAH Foundation.

The engineering college at Lipscomb University in Nashville is also named for Jones.

The new $59 million building at UAH will be 80,000 square feet and will support the school’s largest college that includes more than 2,850 students as well as 90 faculty and staff.

A press release from the school said the new building will feature modernized, world-class research and collaborative teaching facilities that will ensure UAH continues to meet the state’s workforce needs.

“The University of Alabama System Board of Trustees, Chancellor (Finis) St. John IV and the UA System leadership understand the significance of a modern facility and what this means to UAH’s future growth, and I want to thank them for their leadership and guidance,” UAH President Charles Karr said in the press release. “In an effort championed by Sen. Tom Butler (R-Madison), Gov. (Kay) Ivey and the Alabama state legislature appropriated funds to make this needed building a reality, and we will forever be indebted for their commitment to higher education here in Huntsville, especially in the fields of engineering and science. I also want to thank the UAH Foundation, chaired by Dag Rowe, for its significant support. Mr. Jones was a past chairman of this philanthropic body, and because of his leadership, this university was set on a path for exponential growth.”

Ray Jones graduated from Auburn University, served in the military, and returned to Huntsville in 1957 to manage the farm started by his father, Carl T. Jones. Ray Jones stayed close to the farm until his father died in 1967 and he became president of the family’s engineering firm. He ran and expanded the family’s farming, real estate and engineering businesses for 35 years.

He was a member of the Alabama Business Hall of Fame.

“Ray was a bigger than life gentleman,” friend and Madison County Commissioner Phil Riddick said last year following Jones’ death. “His personal integrity was rock solid. He loved the land and cared about Huntsville and what happened here. And he was a fervent church goer.”

Jones donated 25 acres in Jones Valley to Mayfair Church of Christ, where he served as a longtime deacon.

AL.com reporter Lee Roop contributed to this report.