Joyce Mariann DROHAN

1954 - 2022

JOYCE MARIANN DROHAN 1954-2022 We are grieving the loss of Joyce Mariann Drohan, who died of cancer February 13th at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver. She was an architect, urban designer, and teacher, who grew up in Toronto but made Vancouver her home. It was there she established a life with Roland Kupfer, a fellow architect from Chile who died in 2017. Joyce and Roland met when they both worked on the Ismaili Centre in Burnaby at the offices of Bruno Freschi in Vancouver. Through that project and that office, Joyce formed friendships that endured, even as she moved on to other practices, including James Chen and Perkins&Will. She was proud of her contributions to Canadian city-building, including the Blatchford Redevelopment in Edmonton. It transformed the municipal airport into a model of sustainability and won a Globe Award for Urban Sustainability and a Royal Architectural Institute of Canada medal in the National Urban Design Awards. Joyce was also a lead member of the master planning teams for the sustainable communities of South East False Creek (including the Olympic Village) and East Fraserlands (now called The River District). She was project architect on Richmond City Hall, a building that helped shape the civic district of that city and won a Governor General's award for architecture in 2002. She helped the City of Vancouver rebuild its urban design expertise. In later years, she passed on her extensive knowledge of urban design to students through studios at the University of British Columbia. In 2021 she was made a fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. Like many Vancouverites, Joyce knew the value of balancing work and play. The winter would find her skate-skiing at Cypress Mountain. In summer, she would swim at Kitsilano pool. When neither was possible, she would hike in the mountains or cycle through the city. She liked nothing better than doing all of this with friends and family. Joyce loved music, literature, and beauty in the natural world, exploring all with great curiosity, critical acuity and creativity. She reflected what she loved in her contributions to designing of buildings and urban environments, her photography, her water colours, at the piano and in her extraordinary garden. She was inspired by and devoted to her students, mentees and colleagues, always eager to encourage and praise their creativity. She travelled extensively throughout the world for work and pleasure, immersing herself in other cultures and ways of seeing the world. Joyce was one of eight children raised by John Francis Drohan, who died in 2015, and Joan Drohan. She is deeply mourned by her mother and her sisters Mary-Lou (Greg), Terry (Jeff), Madelaine (David), Sharon (David), and Catherine (Mike); her stepson, Pablo Kupfer; her stepdaughter, Marianne; and her sister-in-law Marcella Kupfer; and by her nieces and nephews Wyatt, Corbin, Bronwynn, Lauren, Taylor, Campbell, Madelaine, Madison, McKenzie, Meghan, and Emma. She is survived by her brother Paul (Joyce). Her brother, Frank, died of cancer in 1982. One small consolation for her mother and sisters is that they were able to spend many joyful hours and days with her over the last year. It is difficult to single out one friend for thanks when so many supported Joyce whole-heartedly in the last months of her life. But her sisters would like to thank Kathy Greenberg, who walked beside Joyce every step of the way on the long and tortuous path through cancer treatment, going with her to doctor's appointments and spending long hours in hospital with her. The family would also like to thank the doctors and nurses at the BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver General Hospital, St. Joseph's Hospital, St. Paul's Hospital, and Raven Song Community Health Centre for the care and comfort they gave Joyce. Joyce and Roland had a tiny, beautiful house in Vancouver which would be quickly overwhelmed by flowers. One way to honour her would be a donation to one of the charities she and Roland supported: the BC Cancer Agency http://www.bccancer.bc.ca/donate; Covenant House Vancouver: https://www.covenanthousebc.org/; and Union Gospel Mission: https://ugm.ca/ A memorial to celebrate Joyce's life will be held in Vancouver later this year. If there is a heaven, Joyce is swimming endless laps of Kitsilano pool on a sunny day, beside the sea and the mountains. "...May you continue to inspire us: To enter each day with a generous heart. To serve the call of courage and love..." From On the Death of the Beloved by John O'Donohue