Obituaries — 2009

Donald Earl Hunter
Donald Hunter died December 30, 2009, in Annapolis, Maryland.

Mr. Hunter was president of Hunter Interests Inc., an award-winning real estate development and consulting firm based in Annapolis, whose clients included local governments, public development organizations and large and small developers. Formerly co-owner of Zuchelli, Hunter & Associates, Inc., Mr. Hunter founded Hunter Interests in 1986 and conducted independent consulting assignments nationwide for more than 38 years. Mr. Hunter was frequent speaker on real estate trends and leading edge development and finance techniques.

A native of Chicago, Mr. Hunter held a bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas, and a master's from the University of California-Berkeley. He served two tours in Vietnam, receiving seven combat decorations including the Bronze Star.

He is survived by his wife, Patricia Flipse Hunter; daughters Kristen Hunter Ruhlig and Stephanie Hunter; and sister, Jane Hunter Hughes. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of Donald E. Hunter to the Moffett Cancer Center Foundation, 12902 Magnolia Drive UTC-FOUND, Tampa, FL 33612-9416.

Perry Norton, FAICP
Perry Norton, teacher, planner, author, and key leader of the American Institute of Planners and AICP, died December 23, 2009, in Tucson, Arizona.

Mr. Norton was the first full time executive director of the American Institute of Planners (1952-1957), one of APA's predecessor organizations, and a member of the commission of the American Institute of Certified Planners (1986-1990). He was inducted into the very first class of the Fellows of AICP in 1999.

A 1980 JAPA article by Donald Krueckeberg, "The Story of the Planner's Journal," credits Mr. Norton with transforming AIP's scholarly publication into "a more rigorous Journal, with many new authors from outside the Institute and much more in-depth research, plunging the Journal into the mainstream, or at least the tributaries, of the social sciences of the post-war world."

Mr. Norton was actively engaged in online planning, and helped develop one of the first online planners discussion groups in the mid-1980s. He was active at the website Cyburbia, where a number of his writings on planning are posted: www.cyburbia.org/voices/perry.

James Rossant
Architect, planner, and illustrator James Rossant died in Normandy, France, on December 15, 2009, at the age of 81.

The New York Times noted his two best-known works: the planned city of Reston, Virginia, and the 1966 master plan for lower Manhattan that led to the building of Battery Park City. Mr. Rossant also enjoyed a long career in academia, teaching at the Pratt Institute, NYU, and Harvard, among others.

Mr. Rossant received a bachelor's of architecture from the University of Florida in 1950, and a master's in urban planning at Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1953. He is survived by his wife, food writer Collette Rossant; children Cecile, Juliette, Marianne, and Tomas; and eight grandchildren.

A memorial service was held on April 16, 2010, at the Ramaz School in New York City.

Malancha Ghosh
Recent planning graduate Malancha Ghosh died December 12, 2009, in a Riverside, California, hospital where she had been admitted with H1N1 influenza and pneumonia. She was 27.

Ms. Ghosh earned a bachelor's degree in Environmental Sciences from UC Berkeley and a master's in Planning Policy and Design from UC Irvine in 2009. She was working as an intern at the planning division of the Riverside Community Development Office in the City of Riverside at the time of her death.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Riverside Art Museum, 3425 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, CA 92501.

Jac Smit, AICP
Jac Smit, food planning pioneer and founder of The Urban Agriculture Network, died November 15, 2009, at the age of 80.

Mr. Smit first worked as a planner in the U.S., particularly in Chicago, then enjoyed a long career in planning around the world, with assignments in Egypt, Iraq, Tanzania, and across South Asia.

He was a pioneer in advocating for the cause of urban agriculture, first publishing on the topic in the 1960s. He was the lead author on the seminal book Urban Agriculture: Food, Jobs and Sustainable Cities in 1996. Mr. Smit founded The Urban Agriculture Network in 1992. The library that he collected for that organization will form the foundation of a new Urban Food and Agriculture Learning Centre in Toronto, to be managed by MetroAg – Alliance for Urban Agriculture.

Mr. Smit was a Life Member of the American Planning Association.

To learn more about Mr. Smit's life's work and to sample his writings, visit www.jacsmit.com.

Mr. Smit is survived by his wife, Elise Fiber Smith. The family asks that donations in his name be made to: Urban Agriculture Network, Inc., c/o Franz Jaggar, 355 Club View Drive, Great Falls, VA 22066.

Allan C. Cremer, AICP
Allan Cremer 79, died October 8, 2009, in Cornwall, Vermont.

Mr. Cremer was an engineer and urban planner who worked all over the world. He enjoyed model railroading, traveling, archeology, and being a history buff. He was a member of the Addison County Planning Commission and the Society of Civil Engineers.

He is survived by his wife Dung "Minh" (VuThi) Cremer, with whom he ran a bed and breakfast in Cornwall. He is also survived by two sons, one daughter, a sister, and six grandchildren.

Funeral services were held on October 12, 2009, at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. Burial was on October 13, 2009, in Mount Hope Cemetery, Hastings on the Hudson, New York.

Barbara L. Lukermann, FAICP
Barbara Lukermann, a longtime senior fellow and teacher at the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota, died April 23, 2009. She was 79.

In 2004, she received APA's Award for Distinguished Leadership by a Professional Planner. According to the awards jury:

Barbara Lukermann's influence on the planning profession is remarkable. In 1978 she served on the committee that developed the first certification exam for the American Institute of Certified Planners. The following year she became the first chairperson for AICP.

A life-long resident of Minnesota, she has been appointed by the governor to bring her planning expertise to many influential boards. Nationally, she has worked on the National Academy of Sciences steering committee for the Cooperative Agreement with the Navajo Nation and internationally she has been a delegate for the Municipal Planning Board of China and a trainer for USAID environmental programs in Romania.

Lukermann has amassed more than 40 publication credits during her career and has shared that knowledge as an award-winning teacher at the University of Minnesota.

She is survived by her husband, Fred, former chairman of the University of Minnesota Geography Department, and daughters Kate Plaisance and Carla Lukermann.

Vernon Henry
Planner and civic leader Vernon Henry died April 19, 2009, in Houston at the age of 74.

According to the Houston Chronicle:

Henry worked on a number of area subdivisions and shopping centers, including parts of Kingwood and the Woodlands and the Town and Country Shopping Center. His firm also developed the master plan for the redevelopment of Midtown. But his true legacy isn't the buildings and streets he helped design, but the environments he worked to create. He was involved in civic organizations including Trees for Houston, the Park People, the Houston Parks Green Ribbon Committee and the Houston Zoo.

Henry began work at the Houston Planning Department while he was still a student at the University of Houston’s College of Architecture. He went on to design several buildings, but Mary Lou Henry said that his true calling was planning. The couple met when both worked at the planning department in the 1960s and later worked together at their consulting firm, Vernon G. Henry & Associates. One of Henry’s first forays into public planning came when he worked on the city’s push for zoning regulations in 1961. He argued that the city would benefit from the imposed order.

Many people disagreed. Henry once returned to his home in Bellaire to discover a cross had been burned in the yard, Mary Lou Henry said.

And in the end, she said, he came to believe the city was better off without zoning.

That did not mean he advocated a hands-off approach. In 1999, he and his firm developed the first master plan for the Houston Parks Department, calling for far more, and better developed, green space.

In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Henry is survived by his daughter-in-law, Kristin, his sister, Reba Speights, sister-in-law Carol and her husband, Bruce Bryant of Mandeville, La., and numerous nieces and nephews. The funeral service was held April 24, 2009, at Bradshaw-Carter Funeral Home in Houston. A graveside gathering was held immediately after the service at Glenwood Cemetery.

The family requests that donations in Mr. Henry's name be made to The Houston Zoo, 1513 North MacGregor, Houston, TX 77038.

Warren Theodore Zitzmann
Warren Zitzmann, 85, a retired planner with the U.S. Soil Conservation Service who acted as an unofficial liaison between his fellow urban planners and rural conservation interests, died March 8, 2009, in Tampa, Florida.

The Soil Conservation Service (now the Natural Resources Conservation Service) was founded during the New Deal to encourage the preservation of American farmland and promote ecologically sound agricultural practices. Mr. Zitzmann realized that conserving land, water, and natural resources was not a uniquely rural concern. During his tenure with the Soil Conservation Service, he worked with urban entities, including city and county governments, and with rural interests to conserve farmland and open space and combat urban sprawl. As an expert on small town and rural planning, he urged greater protection for the country's limited supply of productive cropland.

For 35 years, he sang tenor as a member of the Alexandria Harmonizers barbershop chorus. The group performed at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall and won championships in a number of international competitions.

Mr. Zitzmann's wife, Margaret Elizabeth McCarthy Zitzmann, died in 2008. Survivors include four sons, two sisters, and six grandchildren.

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