From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries
https://apnews.com/article/architect-frank-gehry-died-obit-guggenheim-disney-a023a30877e6e9644dd9ad8f1f4217f4
By JOHN ROGERS
Updated 3:29 PM CST, December 5, 2025
LOS ANGELES (AP) rCo Frank Gehry, who designed some of the most
imaginative buildings ever constructed and achieved a level of
worldwide acclaim seldom afforded any architect, has died. He was 96.
Gehry died Friday in his home in Santa Monica after a brief
respiratory illness, said Meaghan Lloyd, chief of staff at Gehry
Partners LLP.
GehryrCOs fascination with modern pop art led to the creation of
distinctive, striking buildings. Among his many masterpieces are the
Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; The Walt Disney Concert Hall in
Los Angeles and BerlinrCOs DZ Bank Building.
He also designed an expansion of FacebookrCOs Northern California
headquarters at the insistence of the companyrCOs CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.
Gehry was awarded every major prize architecture has to offer,
including the fieldrCOs top honor, the Pritzker Prize, for what has been described as rCLrefreshingly original and totally AmericanrCY work.
Other honors include the Royal Institute of British Architects gold
medal, the Americans for the Arts lifetime achievement award, and his
native countryrCOs highest honor, the Companion of the Order of Canada.
The start of his career in architecture
After earning a degree in architecture from the University of Southern California in 1954 and serving in the Army, Gehry studied urban
planning at Harvard University.
But his career got off to a slow start. He struggled for years to make
ends meet, designing public housing projects, shopping centers and
even driving a delivery truck for a time.
Eventually, he got the chance to design a modern shopping mall
overlooking the Santa Monica Pier. He was determined to play it safe
and came up with drawings for an enclosed shopping mall that looked
similar to others in the United States in the 1980s.
To celebrate its completion, the mallrCOs developer dropped by GehryrCOs
house and was stunned by what he saw: The architect had transformed a
modest 1920s-era bungalow into an inventive abode by remodeling it
with chain-link fencing, exposed wood and corrugated metal.
Asked why he hadnrCOt proposed something similar for the mall, Gehry
replied, rCLBecause I have to make a living.rCY
If he really wanted to make a statement as an architect, he was told,
he should drop that attitude and follow his creative vision.
Gehry would do just that for the rest of his life, working into his
90s to create buildings that doubled as stunning works of art.
As his acclaim grew, Gehry Partners LLP, the architectural firm he
founded in 1962, grew with it, expanding to include more than 130
employees at one point. But as big as it got, Gehry insisted on
personally overseeing every project it took on.
The headquarters of the InterActiveCorp, known as the IAC Building,
took the shape of a shimmering beehive when it was completed in New
York CityrCOs Chelsea district in 2007. The 76-story New York By Gehry building, once one of the worldrCOs tallest residential structures, was
a stunning addition to the lower Manhattan skyline when it opened in
2011.
That same year, Gehry joined the faculty of his alma mater, the
University of Southern California, as a professor of architecture. He
also taught at Yale and Columbia University.
Imaginative designs drew criticism along with praise
Not everyone was a fan of GehryrCOs work. Some naysayers dismissed it as
not much more than gigantic, lopsided reincarnations of the little
scrap-wood cities he said he spent hours building when he was growing
up in the mining town of Timmins, Ontario.
Princeton art critic Hal Foster dismissed many of his later efforts as rCLoppressive,rCY arguing they were designed primarily to be tourist attractions. Some denounced the Disney Hall as looking like a
collection of cardboard boxes that had been left out in the rain.
Still other critics included Dwight D. EisenhowerrCOs family, who
objected to GehryrCOs bold proposal for a memorial to honor the nationrCOs
34th president. Although the family said it wanted a simple memorial
and not the one Gehry had proposed, with its multiple statues and
billowing metal tapestries depicting EisenhowerrCOs life, the architect declined to change his design significantly.
If the words of his critics annoyed Gehry, he rarely let on. Indeed,
he even sometimes played along. He appeared as himself in a 2005
episode of rCLThe SimpsonsrCY cartoon show, in which he agreed to design a concert hall that was later converted into a prison.
He came up with the idea for the design, which looked a lot like the
Disney Hall, after crumpling Marge SimpsonrCOs letter to him and
throwing it on the ground. After taking a look at it, he declared,
rCLFrank Gehry, yourCOve done it again!rCY
rCLSome people think I actually do that,rCY he would later tell the AP.
GehryrCOs lasting legacy around the world
Ephraim Owen Goldberg was born in Toronto on Feb. 28, 1929, and moved
to Los Angeles with his family in 1947, eventually becoming a U.S.
citizen. As an adult, he changed his name at the suggestion of his
first wife, who told him antisemitism might be holding back his
career.
Although he had enjoyed drawing and building model cities as a child,
Gehry said it wasnrCOt until he was 20 that he pondered the possibility
of pursuing a career in architecture, after a college ceramics teacher recognized his talent.
rCLIt was like the first thing in my life that IrCOd done well in,rCY he
said.
Gehry steadfastly denied being an artist though.
rCLYes, architects in the past have been both sculptors and architects,rCY
he declared in a 2006 interview with The Associated Press. rCLBut I
still think IrCOm doing buildings, and itrCOs different from what they
do.rCY
His words reflected both a lifelong shyness and an insecurity that
stayed with Gehry long after herCOd been declared the greatest architect
of his time.
rCLIrCOm totally flabbergasted that I got to where IrCOve gotten,rCY he told the AP in 2001. rCLNow it seems inevitable, but at the time it seemed
very problematic.rCY
The Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum in Abu Dhabi, first proposed in
2006, is expected to finally be completed in 2026 after a series of construction delays and sporadic work. The 30,000-square-foot (2,787-square-meter) structure will be the worldrCOs largest Guggenheim, leaving a lasting legacy in the capital city of the United Arab
Emirates.
His survivors include his wife, Berta; daughter, Brina; sons Alejandro
and Samuel; and the buildings he created.
Another daughter, Leslie Gehry Brenner, died of cancer in 2008.
rCo
Rogers, the principal writer of this obituary, retired from The
Associated Press in 2021.
rCo
Reporter Jaimie Ding contributed from Los Angeles.
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