Ann Irene Blair

Ann Irene Blair, Boston Area Landscape Architect, Dies at 69
Ann Irene (Frick) Blair died unexpectedly on May 5, 2025, at her residence. She was born on January 13, 1956, in Los Angeles, CA. Ann happily spent her summers, both as a child and whenever possible as an adult, at the beach in California, swimming in the ocean with family. She graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine (1977), earned her Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia (1983), and worked as a landscape architect in Brookline and Boston, MA.
At UVA, Ann developed her design skills, and cultivated life-long friendships with an unusually close and lively group of classmates. After graduate school, Ann returned to Boston where she worked for two of the best landscape architecture firms in the region, Halverson Associates (1985-1992) and Brown Richardson and Rowe (1992-2000). In private practice, Ann drew on the mentorship of UVA faculty such as Benjamin Howland who had designed, planned and managed significant cultural landscapes for the National Park Service. This afforded Ann the sensibility, industriousness, and land ethic to meaningfully contribute to projects such as the historic Louisville, KY parks, a city-wide open space system planned by Frederick Law Olmsted and his sons. A colleague from Brown Richardson and Rowe describes Ann as "an amazingly talented and creative landscape architect".
After fifteen years in private practice, Ann shifted her focus towards the public sector and public parks working as a landscape architect and planner for the Town of Brookline Parks and Open Space Division (2000-2019) and for the Boston Parks Department (2019-2023). While working for the Town of Brookline, Ann stewarded the Olmsted-designed Emerald Necklace park system (1870s-1890s) as a trusted liaison between neighborhoods, landscape historians and design consultants. She generously shared her experience with her peers and led improvements to open spaces in the South End, Roxbury, Charlestown, East Boston and Dorchester. Design consultants on Fisher Hill Reservoir Park (Brookline) and Edwards Playground (Boston) describe Ann as a cheerful, supportive and optimistic advocate of their work and a park's potential; she was capable of "handling interpersonal situations with disarming charm to which even the grumpiest neighbor or contractor would respond".
In addition to her professional activities, Ann volunteered on several local and national boards. She chaired the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Historic Preservation Professional Interest Group; served as Clerk/Secretary for The Friends of Fairsted (Frederick Law Olmsted's home and office, a NPS National Historic Site); and was an active member of the Boston Society of Landscape Architects. Ann's devotion to landscape architecture, landscape preservation and public park design, specifically, was a benefit to all who had the pleasure of working with her. Her colleagues and friends will honor her memory by trying to live up to the ethical values Ann modeled every day in the honest and caring relationships she cultivated.
Ann is survived by her husband Paul Blair, daughter Marguerite Blair, siblings and cousins throughout Southern California, in addition to an extraordinary large group of devoted friends scattered from Virgina to Maine. Honoring her wishes, Ann's ashes will be scattered in the Pacific Ocean near Point Reyes National Seashore, California-a landscape primarily shaped by her mentor, Benjamin Howland.