Art Gensler, Architect Who Built a Tiny S.F. Shop Into the Largest Design Firm in the World, Dies at 85
May 12—Art Gensler, a San Francisco architect who designed everything from an office reception desk to the second-tallest building in the world during a 62-year career that saw his namesake company grow into the world's largest design firm, has died.
Gensler died early Monday at his home in Mill Valley, according to his son David Gensler of Sebastopol, former co-CEO of Gensler, as the firm was simply called. Gensler had been suffering from lung disease for 18 months and died in his sleep, his son said. He was 85.
The firm's credits and collaborations include the first 100 Apple stores; the Warriors' new home, Chase Center; the boarding area for the United Airlines terminal at San Francisco International Airport; the west wing at Moscone Center; and a 24-story high-rise in Oakland's City Center complex.
With his health failing, Gensler had recently stepped down from long terms of service on the boards of directors for California College of the Arts, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato.
But he did not step down from his own design practice and had a calendar of meetings scheduled for Monday and the rest of this week.
"He had a real passion for San Francisco and the Bay Area," said David Gensler, noting that his father arrived from New York in 1962 and never left. He started his practice in the back of another firm's office, using sawhorses and doors to set up drafting tables in 1965, and maintained that level of humility no matter how big his firm and his name became.
"My dad was a regular guy, respectful and friendly and never pompous," Gensler said. "He loved serving clients through the power of design."
Gensler is an employee-owned firm with 50 offices housing 5,000 employees. Though founded in San Francisco, where it maintains a regional hub, the firm has no headquarters. It has worked in 129 countries to produce $1.5 billion in annual billings. Projects include the 127-story Shanghai Tower, the world's second-tallest building.
Unlike most "starchitects," Gensler himself never claimed individual credit for designing anything. There is no such thing as an Art Gensler building. He oversaw what he called "a constellation of stars" working in 28 separate areas of practice.
The only project Gensler did one-on-one was to design the prototype for the Apple store — at the insistence of Steve Jobs.
"I'm not the guy perfecting the detail on the curtain wall. We've got good people for that," Gensler told The Chronicle's John King in a 2014 interview. "I'm good at understanding what clients want. That's the fun of it for me."
Gensler is credited with elevating interior design, often dismissed as "decorating" to an architectural practice. He also incorporated space planning into design by submitting floor plans that landlords were able to use to entice clients in a soft commercial real estate market, as San Francisco was in the 1960s and 70s.
"One time Art took me on a tour of the Gensler building on the Embarcadero," said designer Stanlee Gatti, a longtime friend, who served with Gensler on the board of CCA.
"I was astonished to see all of the varying disciplines involved in his business. Architecture, interiors, landscape, furniture design. Most surprising to me was product branding. Gensler does everything."
Millard Arthur Gensler Jr. was born July 12, 1935, in Brooklyn. His father, Millard Gensler Sr. sold acoustic tile and the family moved to Hartford, Conn., where Art attended high school. From there he entered Cornell University in upstate New York to study in the College of Art, Architecture and Planning.
Gensler was a member of the Delta Phi fraternity, and during a rush event he met Jim Edgar. They became good friends, and Edgar, now a consultant in Kentfield, recalled that Gensler was always easy to spot on campus because he stood 6-foot-4, which was taller than most of the Cornell basketball players. But Gensler did not have time for the basketball team. He was an all- Ivy League soccer player and also played on the tennis team.
"Art has never changed," said Edgar, who lunched with him last Friday. They'd been talking on the phone and Gensler suggested lunch, not next week but next hour. "He was very spontaneous by nature," said Edgar. "There was no formality to him even as he became an incredibly successful businessman."
While still an undergraduate, Gensler attended a holiday party in Manhattan. There he met Drucilla "Drue" Cortell, a drama and French major at Middlebury College in Vermont. They were married in 1957. They then returned to Ithaca, where Gensler earned his degree in 1958.
After working in New York and Kingston, Jamaica, the Genslers moved to San Francisco in 1962, and in 1965 the couple formed M. Arthur Gensler Jr. & Associates with James Follett. According to a tribute on the Gensler website, the business occupied a one-room office, with just one draftsman and $200 in the bank.
Gensler stepped down as CEO of his firm in 2005 and as chairman in 2010 but immediately backfilled whatever free time he had with board commitments. That same year he joined the board of CCA, during a time when the art school started transitioning from its home in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland to a central campus in Dogpatch in San Francisco.
Gensler was in the fourth year of a term as board chair and was scheduled to leave the board this summer. He was also scheduled to leave the Board of Trustees of SFMOMA in June, after his second 10-year stint.
He was involved in expansion there as well, and recused himself from the board for a year because his firm was under consideration to be the lead architect on construction of the Howard Street addition. He chaired several committees and was involved in creation of the rooftop garden atop the new building.
"Art was a trustee for over two decades and was an essential member of the SFMOMA community, and he contributed to our museum in countless ways," said SFMOMA Director Neal Benezra. "He was truly beloved by his fellow trustees and will be missed tremendously."
In 2015, Gensler put all of his advice and experience into the publication of "Art's Principles: 50 Years of Hard-Learned Lessons in Building a World-Class Professional Services Firm."
" Art Gensler is the original design thinker," said Stephen Beal, president of CCA, on the book jacket.
For all his varied projects, Gensler designed very few homes and none that he lived in. He and Drue raised four sons in a variety of homes in Tiburon before moving into a Craftsman-style home on the water in the Strawberry section of Mill Valley. Gensler made an offer on the place the first time he saw it, in 1983. He never moved again.
Over the last 15 years, Gensler gave away half of his fortune, including a $10 million bequest to endow the Cornell art, architecture and planning program in New York City.
Donations can be directed to diversity scholarships for California College of the Arts students through the Gensler Family Foundation Scholarship, California College of the Arts Advancement Office, 1111 Eighth St., San Francisco, CA 94107.
Survivors include sons David of Sebastopol, Robert of San Diego, Kenneth of San Diego and Douglas of Boston; 10 grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter. A memorial is being scheduled for summer or fall.
Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected]. Twitter:@samwhitingsf
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