This morning there is a celebration being held to mark the life of Gary Carlough, who passed away on Sunday. Gary was one of the good guys of our industry and his death diminishes Pittsburgh a bit.

Gary’s architectural pedigree is pretty impressive. He cited Dahl Ritchey as a mentor, working for Deeter Ritchey Sippel (now DRS Architects) towards the end of their run designing some of Pittsburgh’s iconic modern structures. Gary also was part of the first team at The Design Alliance when that firm was breaking ground in architecture.

I met Gary in 1994 as we were starting the Pittsburgh Construction News. He had recently left TDA with the intention of going to London to study but one of his former clients had asked him to help out with a project so he delayed that trip to take on the job. Before he could go he got another call, then another and you get the picture. His office was in the carriage house behind Dutch MacDonald’s and Becky Mingo’s home in Friendship. When I stopped in to introduce myself, Gary jumped at the chance to stop working and chat. Barefoot and smoking a cigarette in the un-air-conditioned garage, he talked about going to London and what he believed about architecture; and he asked a lot of questions about what we were doing. He seemed to be having fun. As I learned later, it was a fairly typical Gary Carlough experience.

Aside from his personal nature, what I liked about Gary was his passion for what he did. He had different ideas about design and was willing to try them. His firm, EDGE Studio, did some of the more interesting projects of the last decade or so. I admired that EDGE tried to create all the time. Chances are good that EDGE designed one of your favorite projects from the last 15 years.

I wish Gary’s sons and his wife, Anne Chen, peace and healing from this loss. Perhaps they will take solace in the number of people who were shocked by Gary’s death and touched by his life. I will miss him.