Gyo Obata

How can we ever forget being driven through St. Louis by Gyo in his elegant Lexus SUV, pointing out along the way all the buildings he designed, the sculpture park he created, filled with children playing--and then back home where we were his and Mary's guests finding him in the morning or the evening sitting in front of the large living room window watching the hummingbirds come to his feeders, regulatory and lovingly stocked. The twinkle in his eye, his easy, confident, and ever so modest...

We treasure our past times with Gyo and Courtney. Max will carry their creative legacy forward.

Although it's many years since I basked in the warmth and congenial creativity of the Obata home, I'll always remember the incredible role the entire family had in our lives, the lives of Nori's classmate friends at John Burroughs School. Sending love and prayers to all the Obata family and I'll be with you spiritually from here in Jackson, Wyoming, on Saturday. Love from Tammy

Gen and Rebecca, may your hearts be filled with wonderful memories of joyful times together as you celebrate a life well lived. Our deepest sympathies.

Dear Max , I will be in Europe on May 14 so regretfully I will not be at the memorial service . I have made a donation to the Missouri Botanical Garden in memory of your father and your mother . I send you my deepest sympathy and my very best regards , Mary Wells Barron

We honor your love--we stayed with you, dined with you, we saw the remarkable relationship of art and sensibility and compassion you shared. So very sad to lose THE ONE...and he was for you. With our very sincere warmest wishes for delightful memories to remain in the beautiful light in which you built your lives together. Hope to see you in 2022/2023....

My sincerest condolences go out to Kiku and the Obata Family. Gyo was a legend architect of our time and will always be remembered in the History of American Architecture!

I got to know Gyo in recent decades while teaching a course in Mid-Century Modern architecture. He was always gracious and helpful to our class in answering students' questions, explaining designing the Priory Chapel, bringing drawings and illustrations to clarify the thin-shell concrete construction process, and more. He spoke about working with Yamasaki on the airport terminal design. He explained the arguments between the designers and the engineers regarding the structural ribs which...