Memorial Wall

Marshall B. Grossman, an attorney for 55 years who had a highly successful practice, has died.

Burt Pines, a former partner of his, said that Grossman died Saturday night from Parkinson’s disease. He remarked:

“He was a towering figure in the field of civil litigation. A force of nature.

“He possessed a rare combination of intellect, verbal skills, tenacity, knowledge of the law, and ability to think outside the box to seek creative solutions to complex problems. 

“If you were on the other side of a lawsuit with Marshall, you were at a distinct disadvantage.

“I have known Marshall since the 10th grade and had the pleasure of working as his law partner for over 17 years, 1981-1999. 

“I could not have asked for a better partner or firm. Marshall set a standard of professionalism, excellence, integrity, and service to clients that was emulated throughout the firm. He was a wonderful mentor to younger lawyers. He cared about the people who worked with him. He was generous, thoughtful, and always available for assistance. 

“He’s also admired and respected for his work and service outside the practice, including his public service on the Coastal Commission and Commission on Judicial performance, and his service to many organizations in the Jewish community.”

Grossman has been honored by the Century City Bar Association and the Beverly Hills Bar Association for his contributions to the community and the legal profession.

He was a member of the California Coastal Commission in 1985, at a time when the Jonathan Club discriminated by race and religion in granting membership and it wanted to expand its Santa Monica beach facility by renting state-owned land. Grossman is quoted in the book, “Lawyers of Los Angeles, 1950 to 2020,” as declaring:

“What we’re saying is that if you’re going to take (58,000 square feet of) public-trust land, you’re going to have to use the facility in such a way that a Tom Bradley can be a member, that a Diane Feinstein can be a member, or that my kid can be a member.”

The Jonathan Club sued over the decision, losing.

Grossman assumed inactive bar status on Feb. 3, 2020.

He is survived by his wife, Marlene; his children, Leslie and Rodger; and three grandchildren, Sofia, Goldie, and Max.

Beverly Willis, FAIA, an American architect renowned for her commitment to elevating female design professionals, has died at the age of 95 in Branford, Conn., following complications from Parkinson’s disease. Throughout a career spanning 65 years, Willis's achievements included several notable projects and leadership positions, but her labor went beyond shaping America's built environment. Disturbed by female invisibility in architectural history, Willis also helped mold professional architecture practice in the United States by highlighting accomplishments of, and advocating for, women in the building industry.

When asked why we should talk about the role of women in the architecture profession, Willis told ARCHITECT that "cutting-edge form and large projects have a place in architecture, but I believe most women are more concerned about society as a whole. Thousands of small interventions can make our cities a better place to live, while an occasional iconic, monumental structure does not. And then on the business level, there are more women executives today than ever before. These women are in the position to commission large projects, [and] I don't believe a single-sex team will make the grade."

Born on Feb. 17, 1928, in Tulsa, Okla., Willis was one of 200 women attending the University of Southern California in 1945. Shortly after, Willis studied aeronautical engineering at Oregon State University and, in 1955, she earned a B.A. in art from the University of Hawaii. After working as an independent artist for a decade, Willis founded her own San Francisco–based architectural firm in 1966 highlighting the potential of adaptive reuse throughout her practice and completing one of her best-known designs—the San Francisco Ballet Building—in 1983. In 1971, Willis also pioneered computer programming in firms with Computerized Approach to Residential Land Analysis, aka CARLA, a software developed in-house. Today, 13 of Willis's architectural designs are in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and her full archive of drawings resides in the Virginia Tech libraries.

In 2002, after 36 years of leading her eponymous firm, Willis noticed that architectural historians and textbooks often overlooked trailblazing female practitioners. "I looked back and realized that the arbiters of architecture culture had systemically overlooked some of the great women architects of my mid–20th century era," Willis told ARCHITECT in 2007. Aiming to correct this glaring omission, Willis founded the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, initially a database aimed at honoring the contributions of female design professionals.

"Recovering the stories of women architects is a greater gift to future generations than the singular preservation of my own legacy," Willis explained to ARCHITECT. "It's a living legacy, if you will."

Willis hoped that the foundation would emphasize why the building industry needed a multitude of perspectives to build "a better environment for everyone," she said. "If we incorporate the ideas of the many over the visions of the few, we will create, in my opinion, a much more equitable and humanistic environment for everyone. And, really, shouldn't that be the profession's larger ethical goal?"

In the years since its founding, BWAF has expanded its reach, advocating for and fostering female contributions to the built environment.

Willis also advocated for the rights of women in the building industry, penning an opinion piece with Julia Donoho, AIA, for ARCHITECT in 2018 after multiple women accused the Pritzker Prize laureate Richard Meier, FAIA member emeritus, of sexual harassment.

"I became interested in the topic of sexual misconduct when I was trying to understand why many women were dropping out of the design field within their first 10 years of practice," Willis wrote with Donoho. "These were young and talented women who had excelled in architecture school. They were also vulnerable. Recent headlines have made it clear how prevalent sexual misconduct can be when powerful men hold the keys to a person’s career and advancement. There have been too few consequences and too much looking away."

In addition to many professional accolades—Willis was elected the first female president of the California Chapter of The American Institute of Architects in 1979 and received the chapter's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017—Willis also co-founded the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., in 1980.

Willis is survived by her spouse, Wanda Bubrisk. Willis's work is also highlighted in Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism, an exhibition on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Yacov Sharir, who blazed trails for Austin modern dance and inspired University of Texas students for decades, died from complications related to Parkinson's disease. He was 83.

“Yacov Sharir has left an indelible mark on the cultural landscape of this country and certainly in Austin," Charles Santos, director of Dallas-based Titas/Dance Unbound, said. "He guided, trained, inspired more than one generation of movement artists studying at UT to go into the world and find their own creative paths.

"He was a mentor, a friend and a guidepost for me throughout my entire career," Santos continued. "His drive, his creativity and his humanity are permanent lessons I was lucky enough to glean from Yacov. He will be missed, but not forgotten.”

Sharir is credited with helping to put the UT dance program on the national map. In 1982, he founded a key Austin troupe in residence at UT, Sharir Dance Company. The troupe was rebranded in 1997 as Sharir + Bustamante Danceworks, when Sharir shared artistic leadership with fellow dancer and dance-maker José Bustamante.

Together, they brought some of the biggest names in modern dance — Bill T. Jones, Arnie Zane, Trisha Brown, Margaret Jenkins, Bella Lewitzky, Rina Schenfeld — to the city to work with local artists before the company shut down in 2007.

Born August 22, 1940, in Casablanca, Morocco, Sharir moved to Israel in 1948 at the nation's birth. He studied sculpture and ceramics at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. Sharir danced with the Batsheva Dance Company School, Stuttgart Ballet and the Ballet Theatre Contemporain in Paris. As a performer, he worked under dance legends such as Martha Graham, Jerome Robbins and José Limón.

Early on, Sharir was asked to lead classes for the Batsheva troupe.

“I don’t know why they turned to me because there were other company members who had teaching experience," Sharir later said. "I started teaching that class and have never stopped.”

Fluent in French, Hebrew and English, Sharir became a dual citizen of Israel and the United States. In 1978, he arrived in Austin to create the American Deaf Dance Company.

One day after he arrived, Sharir was invited to teach at UT. "There is a fortune in being a teacher in terms of what you give and what you get," Sharir once said. "To see the transformation in students’ lives is unbelievable. You’re not only teaching dance. You’re teaching your life experience and you’re sharing with them very precious moments. That’s a treasure.”

"Yacov changed my life," said Andrea Beckham, one of the city's leading dance-makers and teachers. "First as a student — I was a sociology major, pre-law, taking his modern dance class — then as a longtime company member of Sharir Dance Company, and later as a colleague in the department of theater and dance for almost 30 years. He mentored me and informed me of my way to move through the world of dance, of choreography, of academia and of life, as a citizen of the world."

In 1989, Sharir secured backing for a 10-year project shared with the legendary Merce Cunningham Dance Company. UT's College of Fine Arts provided the space for Cunningham’s rehearsals and, in exchange, students worked alongside artists of the first rank. This project led to three world premieres.

"Yacov Sharir was a true dance visionary," said Carol Adams, former executive director of Sharir Dance Company. "He collaborated with composers, musicians and visual artists to develop new work. This unique approach to producing and presenting dance afforded Austin audiences ongoing opportunities to see a wide variety of cutting-edge dance and performance. As a colleague, he was inspirational and nurturing, always striving for excellence on and off the stage. As a friend, he was always there for me, and I will treasure our decades of experiences and friendship."

Late in his career as a dance-maker, Sharir pioneered virtual reality, intelligent fabrics and interactive systems in performance. These experiments earned him fellowships from the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and the National Endowment for the Arts.

"Yacov Sharir was one of the most extraordinary faculty members I knew in my four decades at UT," said Charles Roeckle, retired deputy to the university's president. "His acclaimed accomplishments for the art of dance in the classroom, in performance and in research are a testament to his unparalleled knowledge and vision, as well as his indefatigable hard work and dedication.  But beyond what he accomplished were the personal qualities that made Yacov so special — his boundless enthusiasm and his buoyant optimism."

Sharir's wife, Pat Clubb, who retired as UT's vice president of operations in 2016, said plans for a memorial on campus are underway.

"He was very much a fighter," Clubb said. "He never gave up. He just did it. He had an enormous amount of energy. It was hard to keep up with him. In public, he was charismatic but reserved. Very genuine, gracious, very stubborn. He was determined to do the right thing."

Sharir leaves behind a daughter as well as Clubb's two sons. "We have six grandsons between us," Clubb said.

"He had a pair of phrases that came to shape my life," Beckham said, "and the lives of our shared students: 'This too shall pass,' and if that wasn’t happening, 'You will prevail.'" 

Ben S. Wood III, 78, died peacefully on Wednesday, September 21, 2023, after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease. Ben was the son of Ben S. Wood II and Rachel Humphries Wood. He died in his home on Blue Lantern Farm, the only home in which he ever lived.

Ben was a well-known, local businessman who owned the Copper Still stores and Blue Lantern Farms, among other business ventures. He loved history and was an avid student of genealogy, having served as President of the Christian County Historical Society. Ben served on numerous boards and committees, including the Hopkinsville-Christian County Library Board.

Having a fondness for antiques, Ben accumulated several collections of historical items, including old whiskey jugs, antique spoons, lap blankets, and China tea cups. Ben loved animals, and he established a pet cemetery on his property. Ben and his father owned several horses, and they raised and raced trotting horses at the Red Mile in Lexington. After he retired, Ben continued to attend races there.

Ben is survived by his long-time companion, Kathy Faye Collins, his sister, Diane (Joey) Wood Pendleton, Kathy’s children, Richard Dale (Stacy) Collins, and Brooklyn (Kristopher) Collins Bliss, Kathy’s grandchildren, Richard Dale Collins Jr. and Zackery Hunter Collins, and Ben’s beloved pets, George and Rocky.

Dr. Ross Sugar, a loving husband, dedicated father, fantastic friend and accomplished physician, passed away in Baltimore on September 18, 2023, at home, surrounded by his family. He leaves behind a legacy of love, laughter, and a life enthusiastically lived.

Born on February 8, 1960, at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, Ross was the beloved son of Jack and Judy Sugar. He grew up in Garrett Park, Maryland, surrounded by sisters who adored him and a broader family who cherished him dearly. During his youth, he displayed a natural aptitude for math and science, and a love for athletics, excelling in tennis, golf, and running.

Ross had a lifelong bond with tight-knit groups of friends from high school and college. His friends appreciated his humor, kindness, sense of adventure, and enthusiasm for life. He was there to support and help any friend, anytime, anywhere, for whatever they needed. His friendships endured throughout the years, until the very end.

Ross attended Charles W. Woodward High School in Rockville and Duke University, where he earned a degree in mathematics. His passion for learning led him to a career in programming, where he met his future wife, Julie, who worked on his software development team. Their love story began at JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) in California, where they shared a passion for travel, humor, and calculus, and embarked on a journey that would define their lives.

They married in 1990 in Baltimore, surrounded by family and friends. Throughout their marriage, Ross and Julie supported each other professionally, challenged each other intellectually, and never stopped making each other laugh. They enjoyed traveling the world together and shared a passion for restoring old houses, renovating 8 of the 9 homes they owned together. Julie’s pragmatic nature complemented Ross’s visionary outlook, and she excelled at turning Ross’s ideas into reality. Everyone who knew them was aware of their deep respect, reverence, and love for each other.

During his first career, Ross had the privilege of working on many exciting projects, including some at NASA, where he contributed to cutting-edge scientific endeavors. However, he felt a calling for a new adventure and craved to follow closer in his physicist father's footsteps. At the age of 34, he embarked on a second career by enrolling in medical school.

His dedication and brilliance were evident as he achieved the highest grade in the country on his subspecialty boards, winning him the Elkin’s award. As a pain management doctor and exceptional diagnostician, Ross was known for his analytical mind. His scientific approach to medicine enabled him to unravel complex medical mysteries. In his residency, after lamenting the lack of quick-reference books for PM&R (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation) residents, he co-authored one using his own personal notes and drawings. Called the “PM&R Pocketpedia,” it is used by medical residents across the country.

His patients admired and adored him, recognizing his caring and compassionate nature. He had a “no shortcuts” approach to patient care and pain management that resulted in him being voted Baltimore’s Top Doctor many times. His professional journey took him all over the country, including to Los Angeles, Atlanta, Richmond, and Baltimore.

Ross first became a father while in medical school, and was incredibly proud of his children, Kirsten and Nevin, whom he cherished above all else. Parenthood was a central part of his life and he believed it was the most important thing he would do. He coached his son’s sports teams and participated in his daughter’s nightly piano practices, never missing a night. He was their emotional mentor, confidante, and biggest supporter, never missing a single game, show, or event and always answering every phone call.

Dr. Ross Sugar had a lifelong thirst for mastery and knowledge. He played the guitar and violin, enjoyed golfing, tennis, running, skiing, and hiking, and had a diverse set of ever rotating hobbies and pursuits. His retirement allowed him to explore these interests fully and start up new ones. He took up drumming, drawing, and songwriting. He and his sister Erica took boxing lessons together. He edited scientific papers and even wrote a horror screenplay in his later years.

Even after his Parkinson’s diagnosis at 54, he was obsessed with pushing his body and his endurance to their limits. He cycled (he preferred the hills), continued to ski (the steepest black diamonds), climbed mountains (at the age of 53, he and three friends climbed part of Mt. Ranier), and undertook long distance hiking (he walked 500 miles on foot from New York City to Toronto over the course of months in early retirement to raise money for Parkinson’s research). He was fascinated with achieving peak physical fitness and was constantly reading books and researching in pursuit of this goal.

Music was an equally integral part of his life. He was a true aficionado of classic rock and classical music. His ability to identify songs and artists was unmatched and he wasn’t afraid to shed a tear over a powerful chord or a moving lyric.

He had a satirical, self-deprecating sense of humor, and a glimmer in his eye that always made you feel in on the joke (he was a master joke teller, often in character). He had a talent for giving moving toasts and telling engaging stories.

Ross was a dreamer, always brimming with new ideas that he eagerly shared with those around him. He also had a knack for explaining complex things in understandable terms. He was a charming and gentle soul, who had a talent for making others feel like they were the most interesting person in the room. He was open-minded and had an insatiable curiosity, always eager to learn new things.

Dr. Ross Sugar's legacy will live on in the hearts of his family, friends, and the countless lives he touched through his medical practice. His unconditional love, boundless humor, and infectious excitement for life will be remembered with reverence and gratitude.

He leaves behind his wife Julie, his children Kirsten and Nevin (and wife Hilal), his sisters Eve Clancy (and husband Tom) and Erica Sugar (and husband Bobby), his nephew Sam, his uncle Don Blumberg, his aunt Judy Brodsky, his cousins Karen Sledge and Rich Belzer, his sisters-in-law Georgia VanBeck, Linda Kacur (and husband John), and brother-in-law Bob Rappold (and wife Barbara). Ross is also survived by many loving nieces and nephews and countless dear friends.