Rex Lotery

LOTERY , Rex
Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, died January 31, 2007 with his family at his bedside. Born outside London August 19, 1930 to Gwenyth and Edward Lotery, the family immigrated to Manhattan in 1939 and later moved to Scarsdale, New York. In 1952 Rex received his Bachelor of Architecture from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he was a member of the Delta Kai Epsilon.
After graduation, Rex moved to Los Angeles, where throughout his career he was honored for his environmentally aware and socio-politically centered planning and design. He was one of the few professionals in Southern California who combined architecture, urban design, and consensus planning as integral parts of a single practice. Rex was a partner of Kahn, Kappe, Lotery, Boccato from 1969 to 1984. His most notable projects included the Central Business District Master Plan in Inglewood, Charmlee Regional Park Master Plan, and the Downtown Urban Improvement Program in Santa Ana. From 1984 to 1992, Rex served as President of Urban Innovations Group at UCLA where he delighted in mentoring the work of emerging young architects.
Rex's architecture projects included Single Rooms Occupancy Hotels on Skid Row, Los Angeles, and the Wilshire Center Master Plan, and many long range master plans for secondary and university level schools. Best known for his solutions to the "…hillside-site problem-one that weds house to lot without desecrating the terrain into a 'step on a mountain" (Beverly E. Johnson, Los Angeles Times Home magazine, October 27, 1963), throughout his career, Rex won several awards for his innovative contemporary residential work. Considered ahead of his time by his colleagues, Rex is remembered for his deep ethical concerns for the environment and for his profession's responsibility to the social and economic well being of the community. He advanced his social, political and environmental agenda as President of the Southern California Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1973 and later as a member of the AIA national board of directors.
Rex married Susan Schacker in 1953. They had three children-Kent, Richard, and Gwen. Susan died in 1978; five months later, Richard died in a car accident. Rex later married Fran Geisler. Their son, Kevin, was born in 1982. Shortly before his death Rex and Fran celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary in the award-winning, and much-photographed hillside home Rex had designed for his family in Santa Barbara. An avid tennis player, photographer, and traveler, Rex enjoyed life to the fullest with family and friends.
Rex is survived by his adoring wife, Fran, three children, four grand-children (Nick, Max, Ryan, and Saphya), son-in-law, Paul Chilkov, his siblings Michael Lotery and Diana Basehart and his nieces and nephew.
The memorial service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on February 10, 2007 in the Sequoia Room at the UCLA Faculty Center. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in honor of Rex Lotery to Cate School to further the study of Modern Architecture, P.O. Box 5005, Carpinteria, CA 93013-5005.