Donald G. Kalec

Emeritus Professor of the School of the Art Institute, Chicago, passed away in Florida near his immediate family on May 26, 2023. He was 87. In 2006, he received the Landmarks Illinois Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing his contributions to historic preservation and education. In the 1980s, he served as staff Restoration Architect of Frank Lloyd Wright's Home and Studio (Frank Lloyd Wright Trust), Oak Park, which earned the American Institute of Architects' Merit Award in 1987. After his leave of absence, he returned to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he proposed a new curriculum that combined preservation theory and practical experience. In 1993, the School adopted Kalec's plan for a Master of Science in Historic Preservation. Since its inception, hundreds of students have been trained. He also taught in the Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects Department. Kalec was born June 18, 1935, received his BA, Auburn University, Alabama, 1959, and his BArch from the University of Florida, Gainesville, 1963. His life-changing opportunity came as an apprentice, 1965-69, with the Taliesin Fellowship, Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, at two locations: Taliesin, Wisconsin and Taliesin West, Arizona. Wright had died six years before, but his architectural firm was still practicing with many of the original apprentices. This education in Wright's principles was the foundation of Kalec's expertise in Prairie School houses and furniture. His essays appeared in journals and exhibition catalogs. As a volunteer in the 2000s, he sat on numerous preservation committees. He was a masterful architectural photographer, creating 100,000 images. These and his collected papers form the Donald G. Kalec Collection of the Organic Architecture and Design Archives, Chicago.