The Memorial Wall

Beverly Willis

Beverly Willis

February 17, 1928 - October 1, 2023

Beverly Willis, FAIA, an American architect renowned for her commitment to elevating female design professionals, has died at the age of 95 in Branford, Conn., following complications from Parkinson’s disease. Throughout a career spanning 65 years, Willis's achievements included several notable projects and leadership positions, but her labor went beyond shaping America's built environment. Disturbed by female invisibility in architectural history, Willis also helped mold professional architecture practice in the United States by highlighting accomplishments of, and advocating for, women in the building industry.

 

When asked why we should talk about the role of women in the architecture profession, Willis told ARCHITECT that "cutting-edge form and large projects have a place in architecture, but I believe most women are more concerned about society as a whole. Thousands of small interventions can make our cities a better place to live, while an occasional iconic, monumental structure does not. And then on the business level, there are more women executives today than ever before. These women are in the position to commission large projects, [and] I don't believe a single-sex team will make the grade."

Born on Feb. 17, 1928, in Tulsa, Okla., Willis was one of 200 women attending the University of Southern California in 1945. Shortly after, Willis studied aeronautical engineering at Oregon State University and, in 1955, she earned a B.A. in art from the University of Hawaii. After working as an independent artist for a decade, Willis founded her own San Francisco–based architectural firm in 1966 highlighting the potential of adaptive reuse throughout her practice and completing one of her best-known designs—the San Francisco Ballet Building—in 1983. In 1971, Willis also pioneered computer programming in firms with Computerized Approach to Residential Land Analysis, aka CARLA, a software developed in-house. Today, 13 of Willis's architectural designs are in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and her full archive of drawings resides in the Virginia Tech libraries.

In 2002, after 36 years of leading her eponymous firm, Willis noticed that architectural historians and textbooks often overlooked trailblazing female practitioners. "I looked back and realized that the arbiters of architecture culture had systemically overlooked some of the great women architects of my mid–20th century era," Willis told ARCHITECT in 2007. Aiming to correct this glaring omission, Willis founded the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, initially a database aimed at honoring the contributions of female design professionals.

"Recovering the stories of women architects is a greater gift to future generations than the singular preservation of my own legacy," Willis explained to ARCHITECT. "It's a living legacy, if you will."

Willis hoped that the foundation would emphasize why the building industry needed a multitude of perspectives to build "a better environment for everyone," she said. "If we incorporate the ideas of the many over the visions of the few, we will create, in my opinion, a much more equitable and humanistic environment for everyone. And, really, shouldn't that be the profession's larger ethical goal?"

In the years since its founding, BWAF has expanded its reach, advocating for and fostering female contributions to the built environment.

Willis also advocated for the rights of women in the building industry, penning an opinion piece with Julia Donoho, AIA, for ARCHITECT in 2018 after multiple women accused the Pritzker Prize laureate Richard Meier, FAIA member emeritus, of sexual harassment.

"I became interested in the topic of sexual misconduct when I was trying to understand why many women were dropping out of the design field within their first 10 years of practice," Willis wrote with Donoho. "These were young and talented women who had excelled in architecture school. They were also vulnerable. Recent headlines have made it clear how prevalent sexual misconduct can be when powerful men hold the keys to a person’s career and advancement. There have been too few consequences and too much looking away."

In addition to many professional accolades—Willis was elected the first female president of the California Chapter of The American Institute of Architects in 1979 and received the chapter's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017—Willis also co-founded the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., in 1980.

Willis is survived by her spouse, Wanda Bubrisk. Willis's work is also highlighted in Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism, an exhibition on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

 

Remembering Beverly Willis

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Marshall B. Grossman

Marshall B. Grossman

March 24, 1939 - September 30, 2023

Marshall B. Grossman, an attorney for 55 years who had a highly successful practice, has died.

Burt Pines, a former partner of his, said that Grossman died Saturday night from Parkinson’s disease. He remarked:

“He was a towering figure in the field of civil litigation. A force of nature.

“He possessed a rare combination of intellect, verbal skills, tenacity, knowledge of the law, and ability to think outside the box to seek creative solutions to complex problems. 

“If you were on the other side of a lawsuit with Marshall, you were at a distinct disadvantage.

“I have known Marshall since the 10th grade and had the pleasure of working as his law partner for over 17 years, 1981-1999. 

“I could not have asked for a better partner or firm. Marshall set a standard of professionalism, excellence, integrity, and service to clients that was emulated throughout the firm. He was a wonderful mentor to younger lawyers. He cared about the people who worked with him. He was generous, thoughtful, and always available for assistance. 

“He’s also admired and respected for his work and service outside the practice, including his public service on the Coastal Commission and Commission on Judicial performance, and his service to many organizations in the Jewish community.”

Grossman has been honored by the Century City Bar Association and the Beverly Hills Bar Association for his contributions to the community and the legal profession.

He was a member of the California Coastal Commission in 1985, at a time when the Jonathan Club discriminated by race and religion in granting membership and it wanted to expand its Santa Monica beach facility by renting state-owned land. Grossman is quoted in the book, “Lawyers of Los Angeles, 1950 to 2020,” as declaring:

“What we’re saying is that if you’re going to take (58,000 square feet of) public-trust land, you’re going to have to use the facility in such a way that a Tom Bradley can be a member, that a Diane Feinstein can be a member, or that my kid can be a member.”

The Jonathan Club sued over the decision, losing.

Grossman assumed inactive bar status on Feb. 3, 2020.

He is survived by his wife, Marlene; his children, Leslie and Rodger; and three grandchildren, Sofia, Goldie, and Max.

 

Remembering Marshall B. Grossman

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Yacov Sharir

Yacov Sharir

August 22, 1940 - September 29, 2023

Yacov Sharir, who blazed trails for Austin modern dance and inspired University of Texas students for decades, died from complications related to Parkinson's disease. He was 83.

“Yacov Sharir has left an indelible mark on the cultural landscape of this country and certainly in Austin," Charles Santos, director of Dallas-based Titas/Dance Unbound, said. "He guided, trained, inspired more than one generation of movement artists studying at UT to go into the world and find their own creative paths.

"He was a mentor, a friend and a guidepost for me throughout my entire career," Santos continued. "His drive, his creativity and his humanity are permanent lessons I was lucky enough to glean from Yacov. He will be missed, but not forgotten.”

Sharir is credited with helping to put the UT dance program on the national map. In 1982, he founded a key Austin troupe in residence at UT, Sharir Dance Company. The troupe was rebranded in 1997 as Sharir + Bustamante Danceworks, when Sharir shared artistic leadership with fellow dancer and dance-maker José Bustamante.

Together, they brought some of the biggest names in modern dance — Bill T. Jones, Arnie Zane, Trisha Brown, Margaret Jenkins, Bella Lewitzky, Rina Schenfeld — to the city to work with local artists before the company shut down in 2007.

Born August 22, 1940, in Casablanca, Morocco, Sharir moved to Israel in 1948 at the nation's birth. He studied sculpture and ceramics at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. Sharir danced with the Batsheva Dance Company School, Stuttgart Ballet and the Ballet Theatre Contemporain in Paris. As a performer, he worked under dance legends such as Martha Graham, Jerome Robbins and José Limón.

Early on, Sharir was asked to lead classes for the Batsheva troupe.

“I don’t know why they turned to me because there were other company members who had teaching experience," Sharir later said. "I started teaching that class and have never stopped.”

Fluent in French, Hebrew and English, Sharir became a dual citizen of Israel and the United States. In 1978, he arrived in Austin to create the American Deaf Dance Company.

One day after he arrived, Sharir was invited to teach at UT. "There is a fortune in being a teacher in terms of what you give and what you get," Sharir once said. "To see the transformation in students’ lives is unbelievable. You’re not only teaching dance. You’re teaching your life experience and you’re sharing with them very precious moments. That’s a treasure.”

"Yacov changed my life," said Andrea Beckham, one of the city's leading dance-makers and teachers. "First as a student — I was a sociology major, pre-law, taking his modern dance class — then as a longtime company member of Sharir Dance Company, and later as a colleague in the department of theater and dance for almost 30 years. He mentored me and informed me of my way to move through the world of dance, of choreography, of academia and of life, as a citizen of the world."

In 1989, Sharir secured backing for a 10-year project shared with the legendary Merce Cunningham Dance Company. UT's College of Fine Arts provided the space for Cunningham’s rehearsals and, in exchange, students worked alongside artists of the first rank. This project led to three world premieres.

"Yacov Sharir was a true dance visionary," said Carol Adams, former executive director of Sharir Dance Company. "He collaborated with composers, musicians and visual artists to develop new work. This unique approach to producing and presenting dance afforded Austin audiences ongoing opportunities to see a wide variety of cutting-edge dance and performance. As a colleague, he was inspirational and nurturing, always striving for excellence on and off the stage. As a friend, he was always there for me, and I will treasure our decades of experiences and friendship."

Late in his career as a dance-maker, Sharir pioneered virtual reality, intelligent fabrics and interactive systems in performance. These experiments earned him fellowships from the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and the National Endowment for the Arts.

"Yacov Sharir was one of the most extraordinary faculty members I knew in my four decades at UT," said Charles Roeckle, retired deputy to the university's president. "His acclaimed accomplishments for the art of dance in the classroom, in performance and in research are a testament to his unparalleled knowledge and vision, as well as his indefatigable hard work and dedication.  But beyond what he accomplished were the personal qualities that made Yacov so special — his boundless enthusiasm and his buoyant optimism."

Sharir's wife, Pat Clubb, who retired as UT's vice president of operations in 2016, said plans for a memorial on campus are underway.

"He was very much a fighter," Clubb said. "He never gave up. He just did it. He had an enormous amount of energy. It was hard to keep up with him. In public, he was charismatic but reserved. Very genuine, gracious, very stubborn. He was determined to do the right thing."

Sharir leaves behind a daughter as well as Clubb's two sons. "We have six grandsons between us," Clubb said.

"He had a pair of phrases that came to shape my life," Beckham said, "and the lives of our shared students: 'This too shall pass,' and if that wasn’t happening, 'You will prevail.'" 

 

Remembering Yacov Sharir

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Norm Herman Meyer

Norm Herman Meyer

September 23, 1925 - September 24, 2023

Norm Herman Meyer, a member of the Loma Linda City Council for 22 years, died peacefully on September 24, 2023, after battling Parkinson’s Disease in Redlands with his daughters by his side. He was 98.

Born on September 23, 1925, in Loma Linda where he spent most of his life. After graduating from Loma Linda Academy, he was drafted into the army to serve during World War II in 1944. He was stationed in France.

After returning from the war, he married Priscilla Fern Obst in 1946 and they had twin daughters, Bonnie and Barbara.

He continued to work and finish his college degree. He and his family then moved to Brazil where he served as a hospital administrator for the next eight years. While there, they welcomed an adopted son, Kenneth.

After returning to the United States, he continued to work in hospital administration and served on the Loma Linda City Council for 22 years.

In 1979, he reunited and married his high school sweetheart Pat Davidson.

They spent 43 happy years together living in Loma Linda. Pat has two sons Michael and Karl.

They spent many years traveling throughout the country, and spending time with family and friends.

He was preceded by the death of his wife Patricia and his son Kenneth. He is survived by his daughters Barbara and Bonnie, his stepsons Michael and Karl, as well as his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

 

Remembering Norm Herman Meyer

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Ben S. Wood III

Ben S. Wood III

July 5, 1945 - September 21, 2023

Ben S. Wood III, 78, died peacefully on Wednesday, September 21, 2023, after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease. Ben was the son of Ben S. Wood II and Rachel Humphries Wood. He died in his home on Blue Lantern Farm, the only home in which he ever lived.

Ben was a well-known, local businessman who owned the Copper Still stores and Blue Lantern Farms, among other business ventures. He loved history and was an avid student of genealogy, having served as President of the Christian County Historical Society. Ben served on numerous boards and committees, including the Hopkinsville-Christian County Library Board.

Having a fondness for antiques, Ben accumulated several collections of historical items, including old whiskey jugs, antique spoons, lap blankets, and China tea cups. Ben loved animals, and he established a pet cemetery on his property. Ben and his father owned several horses, and they raised and raced trotting horses at the Red Mile in Lexington. After he retired, Ben continued to attend races there.

Ben is survived by his long-time companion, Kathy Faye Collins, his sister, Diane (Joey) Wood Pendleton, Kathy’s children, Richard Dale (Stacy) Collins, and Brooklyn (Kristopher) Collins Bliss, Kathy’s grandchildren, Richard Dale Collins Jr. and Zackery Hunter Collins, and Ben’s beloved pets, George and Rocky.

 

Remembering Ben S. Wood III

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Dr. Ross Carl Sugar

Dr. Ross Carl Sugar

February 8, 1960 - September 18, 2023

Dr. Ross Sugar, a loving husband, dedicated father, fantastic friend and accomplished physician, passed away in Baltimore on September 18, 2023, at home, surrounded by his family. He leaves behind a legacy of love, laughter, and a life enthusiastically lived.

Born on February 8, 1960, at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, Ross was the beloved son of Jack and Judy Sugar. He grew up in Garrett Park, Maryland, surrounded by sisters who adored him and a broader family who cherished him dearly. During his youth, he displayed a natural aptitude for math and science, and a love for athletics, excelling in tennis, golf, and running.

Ross had a lifelong bond with tight-knit groups of friends from high school and college. His friends appreciated his humor, kindness, sense of adventure, and enthusiasm for life. He was there to support and help any friend, anytime, anywhere, for whatever they needed. His friendships endured throughout the years, until the very end.

Ross attended Charles W. Woodward High School in Rockville and Duke University, where he earned a degree in mathematics. His passion for learning led him to a career in programming, where he met his future wife, Julie, who worked on his software development team. Their love story began at JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) in California, where they shared a passion for travel, humor, and calculus, and embarked on a journey that would define their lives.

They married in 1990 in Baltimore, surrounded by family and friends. Throughout their marriage, Ross and Julie supported each other professionally, challenged each other intellectually, and never stopped making each other laugh. They enjoyed traveling the world together and shared a passion for restoring old houses, renovating 8 of the 9 homes they owned together. Julie’s pragmatic nature complemented Ross’s visionary outlook, and she excelled at turning Ross’s ideas into reality. Everyone who knew them was aware of their deep respect, reverence, and love for each other.

During his first career, Ross had the privilege of working on many exciting projects, including some at NASA, where he contributed to cutting-edge scientific endeavors. However, he felt a calling for a new adventure and craved to follow closer in his physicist father's footsteps. At the age of 34, he embarked on a second career by enrolling in medical school.

His dedication and brilliance were evident as he achieved the highest grade in the country on his subspecialty boards, winning him the Elkin’s award. As a pain management doctor and exceptional diagnostician, Ross was known for his analytical mind. His scientific approach to medicine enabled him to unravel complex medical mysteries. In his residency, after lamenting the lack of quick-reference books for PM&R (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation) residents, he co-authored one using his own personal notes and drawings. Called the “PM&R Pocketpedia,” it is used by medical residents across the country.

His patients admired and adored him, recognizing his caring and compassionate nature. He had a “no shortcuts” approach to patient care and pain management that resulted in him being voted Baltimore’s Top Doctor many times. His professional journey took him all over the country, including to Los Angeles, Atlanta, Richmond, and Baltimore.

Ross first became a father while in medical school, and was incredibly proud of his children, Kirsten and Nevin, whom he cherished above all else. Parenthood was a central part of his life and he believed it was the most important thing he would do. He coached his son’s sports teams and participated in his daughter’s nightly piano practices, never missing a night. He was their emotional mentor, confidante, and biggest supporter, never missing a single game, show, or event and always answering every phone call.

Dr. Ross Sugar had a lifelong thirst for mastery and knowledge. He played the guitar and violin, enjoyed golfing, tennis, running, skiing, and hiking, and had a diverse set of ever rotating hobbies and pursuits. His retirement allowed him to explore these interests fully and start up new ones. He took up drumming, drawing, and songwriting. He and his sister Erica took boxing lessons together. He edited scientific papers and even wrote a horror screenplay in his later years.

Even after his Parkinson’s diagnosis at 54, he was obsessed with pushing his body and his endurance to their limits. He cycled (he preferred the hills), continued to ski (the steepest black diamonds), climbed mountains (at the age of 53, he and three friends climbed part of Mt. Ranier), and undertook long distance hiking (he walked 500 miles on foot from New York City to Toronto over the course of months in early retirement to raise money for Parkinson’s research). He was fascinated with achieving peak physical fitness and was constantly reading books and researching in pursuit of this goal.

Music was an equally integral part of his life. He was a true aficionado of classic rock and classical music. His ability to identify songs and artists was unmatched and he wasn’t afraid to shed a tear over a powerful chord or a moving lyric.

He had a satirical, self-deprecating sense of humor, and a glimmer in his eye that always made you feel in on the joke (he was a master joke teller, often in character). He had a talent for giving moving toasts and telling engaging stories.

Ross was a dreamer, always brimming with new ideas that he eagerly shared with those around him. He also had a knack for explaining complex things in understandable terms. He was a charming and gentle soul, who had a talent for making others feel like they were the most interesting person in the room. He was open-minded and had an insatiable curiosity, always eager to learn new things.

Dr. Ross Sugar's legacy will live on in the hearts of his family, friends, and the countless lives he touched through his medical practice. His unconditional love, boundless humor, and infectious excitement for life will be remembered with reverence and gratitude.

He leaves behind his wife Julie, his children Kirsten and Nevin (and wife Hilal), his sisters Eve Clancy (and husband Tom) and Erica Sugar (and husband Bobby), his nephew Sam, his uncle Don Blumberg, his aunt Judy Brodsky, his cousins Karen Sledge and Rich Belzer, his sisters-in-law Georgia VanBeck, Linda Kacur (and husband John), and brother-in-law Bob Rappold (and wife Barbara). Ross is also survived by many loving nieces and nephews and countless dear friends.

Remembering Dr. Ross Carl Sugar

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Fernando Botero

Fernando Botero

April 19, 1932 - September 15, 2023

Fernando Botero, a Colombian artist who developed a signature style painting rotund, inflated yet sensuous figures with a whimsical or satirical edge, and who branched into monumental sculptures that adorned some of the world’s most famous boulevards, died September 15th, 2023 at a hospital in Monaco. He was 91.

Mauricio Vallejo, a co-owner of the Art of the World gallery in Houston and a close friend of Mr. Botero’s, confirmed the death and said the artist had pneumonia and Parkinson’s disease.

Mr. Botero’s aesthetic — often shorthanded as Boterismo — became a major draw at contemporary art museums and decorated the Champs-Élysées in Paris, Park Avenue in New York, Madrid’s Paseo de Recoletos and other renowned thoroughfares, as well as parks and plazas from Buenos Aires to Moscow to Tokyo. His emblematic oversized figures helped turn global attention to Latin American artists in the second half of the 20th century.

With deadpan irreverence, he scoured Colombia’s bourgeois urban scenes for imagery of extravagance, pomposity and greed. Mr. Botero early in his career seized on sharp visual contrasts: Tiny snakes, parrots, flies and bananas adorn his portraits of blimpy bullfighters, bishops, prostitutes, acrobats, ballroom dancers and politicians. Men with rotund faces sport tiny mustaches; hefty ladies smoke miniature cigarettes.

His figures on the canvas and cast in bronze were often voluptuous and slyly fanciful, although he would turn later to darker themes inspired by current events, such as drug violence in Colombia and torture at the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Mr. Botero’s work was highly popular and could fetch millions of dollars. Critics, however, especially in the 1960s, did not always approve of his work. Some dismissed it as gimmickry or caricature. An ARTnews reviewer once belittled his enlarged figures as “fetuses begotten by Mussolini on an idiot peasant woman.”

Edward J. Sullivan, a New York University professor who specializes in Latin American contemporary art, traced such animosity to the humor and accessibility of Mr. Botero’s public art installations, which challenged an establishment that often embraced inscrutability and jealously guarded its gatekeeper role.

“My popularity has to do with the divorce between modern art, where everything is obscure, and the viewer who often feels he needs a professor to tell them whether it’s good or not,” Mr. Botero told the Los Angeles Times. “I believe a painting has to talk directly to the viewer, with composition, color and design, without a professor to explain it.”

Mr. Botero’s cheekiness showed in his paintings of Marie Antoinette sauntering through the cobble-stoned street of a Colombian town, a humongous ballet dancer en pointe at the barre, and a serious-minded cleric lying in comical repose in a park. In a self-portrait, Mr. Botero depicted himself as a painter dressed in full bullfighting regalia.

He rejected suggestions that he should move beyond the voluminous figures in his paintings and his bulbous sculptures.

Fernando Botero Angulo was born in Medellín on April 19, 1932, the second of three siblings. His father, a salesman who sometimes made his rounds on horseback, died of an apparent heart attack when Mr. Botero was 4. His mother, a seamstress, struggled to maintain the family.

An uncle enrolled Mr. Botero in a bullfighting school, where pupils practiced passes before imaginary bulls. “We were about 20 pupils in the school. After much training, one day, the professor finally said, ‘Now, we’re going to experience with a real bull.’ Nineteen left the school, me included,” Mr. Botero told the South China Morning Post.

He began sketching scenes from the bullring, finding a passion outside his Jesuit school, where priests, scandalized by an admiring essay he wrote on the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, expelled him in 1949.

Mr. Botero graduated from a public high school, eventually moving to Bogotá, the Colombian capital, a breathtaking experience that thrust the young artist into a creative milieu — artistic and literary — far removed from provincial Medellín. When one of his paintings placed second at a national competition in 1952, he used the prize money to study art in Madrid.

He visited the Louvre in Paris and settled in Florence in 1953, delighting in Renaissance paintings. But upon returning to Colombia in 1955, Mr. Botero bombed in his efforts to sell his work.

Mr. Botero and his first wife, Gloria Zea, moved a year later to Mexico City, where Mr. Botero seized on what would become his signature style. A Botero painting from this era — depicting a mandolin with an improbably tiny sound hole that made the instrument appear out of proportion — signified the artist’s exploration of volume.

He told the South China Morning Post that he resented the tendency among some viewers to dismiss his subjects as fat. “For me, it’s an exaltation of volume and sensuality,” he said. “I’ve done the opposite of what most artists do today — I’ve given importance to volume. I’ve also given importance to subject matter and expression — poetry. I don’t want to shock people. I want to give them pleasure.”

 

Remembering Fernando Botero

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Antonio Lopez Gutierrez

Antonio Lopez Gutierrez

October 25, 1937 - September 15, 2023

Restaurateur, owner of Antonio's Mexican Restaurant. In the 1970's, he changed the perception of how people thought of Mexican food, beyond tacos and burritos, and started a trend that continues to this day, where more traditional dishes were brought to the mainstream as Mexican Cuisine. He was born in Monterrey, Mexico in 1937. The fifth child (of seven brothers and three sisters) to Maria and Antonio Sr. In the 1950's, he came to Los Angeles not yet able to speak the language, but eager to learn and make his dream of owning his own restaurant a reality. He worked in almost every restaurant and nightclub in town, as a dishwasher, busboy, and eventually when he learned enough English, as a waiter. He met the love of his life Yolanda, and together they raised five children. In the early 1960's, he worked in the commissary of Warner Brothers studios. As a waiter, he took care of Frank Sinatra, Jane Fonda, Barbra Streisand, Francis Ford Coppola, and even took care of the head of the studio Jack Warner. When having asked Mr. Warner advice about him opening a restaurant, Mr. Warner told him "don't go into the restaurant business! You won't make any money!" After working at the studio,he'd come home, have a bit of dinner, take a short nap and then get ready for his second job as a waiter at "The Chianti" a popular Italian restaurant on Melrose Avenue. He would often times, come home very late and very tired. Next day, he'd start his routine working at the studio. He did this for ten years, until he saved enough money to open his own restaurant. In 1970, on April 6, he finally opened his restaurant "Antonio's" on Melrose Avenue, only a few blocks away from The Chianti! The same day he opened his restaurant, his youngest child was born. A son, named Antonio Jr. After many years of hard work and struggles, his dream came true, and people loved the cuisine, and many celebrities enjoyed it as well. After 50 years in operation, his restaurant closed. He had been in declining health because of Parkinson's disease and dementia. He passed away peacefully, at home, surrounded by his loving family who cared for him till the end. He is survived by his wife of sixty plus years Yolanda, and their five children. The youngest having died in an auto accident at the age of twenty. He is also survived by his seven grand children and five great grand children. He was an incredible human being, very much loved, and will be truly missed by all who knew him.

Remembering Antonio Lopez Gutierrez

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Lisa Walsh

Lisa Walsh

January 1, 1954 - September 14, 2023

From the day she started editing the Longboat Observer to the day she handed over editing duties of the four newspapers she built with her husband, there was never a frantic rush, never a shout, never a tense flurry of activity to meet deadlines. 

No matter how late the papers to the printers or how big the story, Lisa Walsh was never anything but poised. 

It had nothing to do with how much she cared about the papers — and make no mistake, she cared down to the comma — running around barking orders or breathing down reporters’ necks to get copy just wasn’t her nature.

But that doesn’t mean she wasn’t effective. As she leaned over your desk and said, “We’re going to need that story now,” writers got the message. Despite her petite 5-foot-4 frame, perfectly styled hair and manicured nails, she was tough. And everyone knew it.

Of course, everyone knew this by the way she faced challenges — head on. She sought solutions instead of indulging in problems. She let logic prevail over emotion. And in her understated way, whether it was navigating three deadlines a week, sorting out a crisis at a nonprofit or even battling a rare form of Parkinson’s disease for seven years, she led with patience, grace and dignity.

It was that way until the end. She died at 12:25 a.m. Thursday, September 14th, 2023, from complications from her Parkinson’s. She was 69. 

Walsh died at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. When her health began deteriorating rapidly Tuesday, September 12th, 2023, doctors gave her four to six hours to live. She kept going for 27 more.

“My mother, tiny though she was, was incredibly strong and determined and never gave up,” said Emily Walsh, her eldest daughter.

Walsh was surrounded when she died by her husband Matt and three adult children, Emily, Kate, and Brian. Walsh is also survived by three grandchildren, Rhys Parry, 13; Maeve Walsh, 6; Jackson Walsh, 3; her father, David Beliles, of Sarasota and her brother, David Beliles Jr., Lincoln, Nebraska.  

On Longboat Key and in Sarasota and east Manatee County, the Walshes are most known publicly for the Observer Media Group, which publishes multiple weekly print publications, seasonal and quarterly magazines and daily news websites. 

But Lisa Walsh, based on accounts from her family and friends in Sarasota and beyond, was much more than a newspaper editor. 

She was a devoted wife, mother and grandmother, quick with advice and counsel and also quick to host and prepare a feast-worthy Christmas dinner. She was a behind-the-scenes executive, idea-generating machine and tight-knit business partner with Matt — they were married 47 years — as they and the Observer Media Group navigated the rapidly-changing media industry for nearly three decades.

Walsh was an intensely loyal philanthropist who gave time and treasure to a host of causes; and a go-to friend for many who loved to giggle with her partners-in-crime while also providing a trusted and empathic shoulder — in addition to recipes, suggestions for books and what TV shows to watch. On that last point, one of her more recent TV recommendations was Bosch, an Amazon Prime show based on the Michael Connelly novels.

“She was brilliant and beautiful,” said Brian Lipton, director of the West Coast Florida chapter of the American Jewish Committee, one of the organizations Lisa Walsh supported. “She was a kind lady and a class act.” 

Despite her title of vice president and executive editor, Walsh was happy to let others have the spotlight. In the business, she let Matt do most of the talking at companywide presentations, but the two shared all big decisions. 

Every business expansion or sale, every hire or fire was discussed around the dinner table — with Lisa providing the level-headed counterbalance to Matt’s passion and eagerness to grow. 

From the height of the toilets in the ladies’ room to the fonts of the redesigned print editions to the company’s taglines — many of which she dreamed up in her witty style — were subject to the Lisa taste test. 

Humor was a primary tool for persuasion for Lisa. In response to one angry reader who wrote a searing letter to the editor complaining about the conservative nature of the Longboat Observer’s editorial page and its incorrect bridge column, Lisa retorted: “We do apologize for the error in the bridge column, and in the future, we will keep it just like our opinion page: right.” 

Devotion to community and her friends and family were another hallmark of Walsh’s life. On the community side, she served as president of the boards of Safe Place and Rape Crisis Center and the Longboat Key Center for the Arts and on the boards of the Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce and Ringling College Library Association. As the chair of galas for the American Jewish Committee, Neuro Challenge Foundation for Parkinson’s and Sarasota Ballet, she raised thousands of dollars for those organizations.

Those community activities paid off for Walsh as well. She made close, lasting friendships. Derek Billib, another longtime SPARCC board member, says Walsh was the most sensitive person of their group. “She was so compassionate, sincere and genuine,” Billib said. “When she was talking with you, she was always listening, always paying attention.”

 

Some friendships go back to Walsh’s University of Missouri college days, in the early 1970s. That’s when she both pledged the Pi Beta Phi sorority and met Merry Gnaegy, a fellow sorority sister, who went on to become a lifelong friend. 

Gnaegy introduced Walsh, then Lisa Beliles, to a Mizzou journalism major and baseball player named Matt Walsh, setting the pair up on a blind date. 

Walsh and Gnaegy were roommates for several years. They danced to Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” attended formal dinners, line danced to “China Grove” and hit the “Double Bubble” at the Ramada Inn, Gnaegy recalls. 

Even back then, echoing a theme in her life, Gnaegy says Walsh “always seemed put together. She had that perfect complexion that didn’t require makeup. She was smart, cute and perky, even in our standard attire of overalls, saddle oxfords and red bandanas.”

Walsh became president of the Pi Phi house in her junior year. In recent years, after Walsh became a primary financial contributor to rebuild the sorority house, the sorority named the president’s suite after her, with her name in a plaque on the wall next to the door.

Last fall, on a trip through Columbia, Missouri, Lisa and Matt stopped at the sorority house. She wanted to see the plaque for the first time in person. It was on the second floor of house — a house with no elevator.

Unable to walk because of her Parkinson’s, with Matt holding her up from behind and bystanders watching in amazement, Lisa held on to the stair railings and pulled herself up two flights of stairs and shimmied down two flights of stairs.

“I learned early on in our marriage,” Matt says, “despite her diminutive size and elegant demeanor, it was never a good idea to tell her she couldn’t do something. She had amazing inner strength and determination; always poised, never a raised voice, never complain; she would do what needed to be done, never giving up. It was that way to her last breath. A role model for us all.”

 

Remembering Lisa Walsh

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Carson Lee Gladson

Carson Lee Gladson

January 1, 1940 - September 14, 2023

Carson Lee Gladson, 83, renowned California landscape artist, died on September 14, 2023, in Pasadena after a prolonged battle with Parkinson's disease.
Born in Lexington, Kentucky, to the Rev. Dallas and Mary (Mitchell), Gladson moved to California as a toddler and lived in the state for the rest of his life. For many years, his father was the chaplain at San Quentin Prison and the Gladson family lived on the island there.
After studying at Chapman University, University of California, Berkeley, UCLA and California State University at Fullerton, Gladson taught for 40 years at El Camino College, the second-largest community college in the United States, where he instructed in painting, drawing and design. His work is in the collections of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Oakland Museum, Long Beach Museum of Art and The Hammer Museum, as well as many other national and international museums and corporate collections.
Gladson enjoyed an international reputation as a landscape painter, although initially he pursued abstract paintings that featured subtle color and extensive use of biomorphic shapes. At 19, he had his first one-man show at the Long Beach Museum of Art, which drew a rave review in the Los Angeles Times by art critic William Wilson and so impressed the museum director that he bought a work for his personal collection, as did members of the museum staff.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the majority of his output was large-scale drawings that featured the transcendent use of color and light and could be characterized as ethereal works. Many of these drawings were of specific locations in Southern California, Oregon, Washington and Vancouver, BC, while many others are mythic creations from the artist's mind. He has been referred to as a California plein air (outdoor) artist and there are clearly correlations, but his work is too contemporary for that to be a fully accurate characterization.

As a result of repetitive injury to his hands, Gladson transitioned to employing iPads to create new images. He never stopped making art until the progress of Parkinson's made it impossible.

He is survived by his daughters, Hope Demetriades, Rose Gladson and Genevieve Gladson; grandsons, Lucas Demetriades and Theodore Demetriades; sister, Diane Reiman; niece, Wendy Miller Taylor; grandniece, Haley Hartzell; grandnephew, Carson Miller and son-in-law, Alexander Demetriades.

 

Remembering Carson Lee Gladson

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Contact Us

Address
Parkinson's Resource Organization
74785 Highway 111
Suite 208
Indian Wells, CA 92210

Local Phone
(760) 773-5628

Toll-Free Phone
(877) 775-4111

General Information
info@parkinsonsresource.org

 

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Updated: August 16, 2017