Byron Kenneth Ruth

In memory of Byron Kenneth Ruth who lived a grand life and died November 9, 2015. A loving husband, father, and son, his other life-long passion was Architecture. He was devoted to his profession, and worked at it for over 50 years.

Byron was born May 19, 1937 in Grand Island, Nebraska, but moved to Oregon with his parents, Kenneth and Mildred Ruth, when he was two years old. They lived for a time high in the mountains of Southern Oregon with his grandparents, but soon moved to the Portland area to a home on the Tualatin River, where as a boy, he loved rowing on the river and growing a large vegetable garden. He graduated from Tualatin High School in 1955. After graduating with a degree in Architecture from the University of Oregon, he and his wife, Sharon and their two daughters, Jennifer and Julienne, moved to the San Francisco Bay area. There he gained practical experience with several firms in the city. In 1969 they relocated across the country to New England, where Byron was asked to help manage the Connecticut office of Callister, Payne and Bischoff, who were designing a large retirement community, Heritage Village, in Southbury, Connecticut.

After completing Heritage Village, Byron and his family moved to Amherst, Massachusetts in 1971 to manage the design and construction of a large residential community for UMass students and faculty. They decided to put down roots and bought a centuries-old farmhouse which they gradually restored and enlarged. Byron eventually started his own architectural firm with two partners, Ruth, Shives, and Williams. Soon they had offices in both Amherst and Boston. Their work included shops and restaurants in Fanuel Hall, a repurposed historic warehouse complex on the harbor in Boston, a renovation of a large downtown mall in Burlington, Vermont, and a regional marketplace in East Hartford. Ongoing projects were done for the University of Massachusetts and Hampshire College, local institutions in Amherst. Many residential and commercial projects in the Northeast and beyond rounded out the work. These were busy and fulfilling years.

In 1983 after a serious slow-down in architectural work in New England due to a deep recession, Byron and friends closed their office and he accepted a position as Assistant Principal in a large firm in Baltimore, Maryland. He and his family settled in Columbia, Maryland, halfway between Baltimore and Washington, DC. Working in a more urban setting on the harbor-front in Baltimore was an exciting experience after the bucolic life in Amherst. Exciting as well, was working on large urban projects, such as Pentagon City, a retail-office complex in Arlington, Virginia, and renovation and repurpose of large historic warehouses in Fells Point, Baltimore, and a large retail-residential project in Princeton, N.J. In his last few years before retirement in 2003, Byron managed the redesign and the construction of an addition to the Darden Graduate Business School at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

His work was important to Byron, but so was his family. He was a loving partner and best friend to Sharon for 56 years and was a loving supportive father to his two daughters. He enjoyed many camping, hiking, and skiing adventures with the family. Trips to the West Coast to visit extended family were important to keep the ties strong. After many years in Maryland, enjoying access to all that the Mid-Atlantic area had to offer, they retired for a few years to Naples, Florida for some fun in the sun. After a few years in paradise, they returned north to be close to the family in Pennsylvania. He passed away in the fall of 2015,

Byron was greatly loved by his wife Sharon, his daughters Jennifer and Julienne and their husbands, David Hoffman and Larry Fahnestock, his grand-daughters, Zoe and Maia, and his many friends on both coasts. He is affectionately remembered for his gentle nature, dry wit, and exuberant laugh. He is very much missed.

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