JORDAN GRUZEN

GRUZEN--Jordan L.

Architect Jordan L. Gruzen died peacefully on Tuesday at age 80 surrounded by his family. Gruzen, whose career spanned six decades, played a significant role in enriching the urban landscape of 20th century metropolitan New York where his firm, Gruzen Samton, was based. Gruzen, a Fellow of the AIA, and the firm received five national AIA design awards and numerous city and state AIA awards. Jordan was born in Jersey City on April 5, 1934. His father Barnett Sumner Gruzen founded the architectural firm Kelly & Gruzen in 1936, which Jordan carried on with partners and later became Gruzen Samton. Jordan's mother, Ethel (Brof) Gruzen, was a professional opera singer with the Metropolitan Opera House. Jordan received his B.Arch at MIT and M.Arch at the University of Pennsylvania and was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to Italy. Jordan was a resident of Battery Park City and Amagansett, Long Island, where he lived in the apartment buildings and houses that he designed. He was active in his communities, including sailing with the Manhattan Yacht Club on New York Harbor, playing tennis at Devon Yacht Club, and helping to found The Interfaith Community and Lower Manhattan's Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra. He participated heavily in New York New Visions during the reshaping of Lower Manhattan after 9/11. Jordan is survived by his wife Lee, son Alex and wife Karen, daughters Rachel and Georgia, brother Max, Alex's mother Joan, and grandchildren Elsa, Ava, Sonja and Bear. Friends and family will remember Jordan as a man of warmth, grace and optimism, who embraced life fully. Donations in his memory can be made to the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra.