Richard E. Powell, EAIA, Founding Partner

Dick Powell who founded Bohlin and Powell with Peter Bohlin in 1965 passed away on January 24. Dick retired from the practice in 1990 (upon his retirement the firm became Bohlin Cywinski Jackson). During his twenty-five year tenure, he worked in the Wilkes-Barre office, although he resided in Havertown, near Philadelphia. He spent his retirement in Havertown and more recently at Whitehorse Village in nearby Newtown Square.

Many of us at Bohlin Cywinski Jackson knew Dick as a beloved mentor, something of a living legend, and a great friend. Dick was responsible for instituting the business practices that we follow to this day along with the foundations of the technical rigor that is instrumental to the reputation that we have built over 42 years. It is not easy to keep an architectural practice going for any length of time, particularly when its early years coincided with the oil embargos and hyperinflation that marked the 1970s and 1980s. Dick was primarily responsible for maintaining the business base in the first twenty-five years of the practice that has allowed all of us to be a part of this extraordinary firm.

We all learned an enormous amount about managing a professional practice - and about Architecture - from Dick. However, the value of spending many years with him had much larger dimensions. Quietly, thoughtfully, and tenaciously, Dick infused the office with a quality of caring about people and about doing the right thing. Professionally he was tough-minded about ensuring the right outcome; but at the personal level, he made it seem as if encouraging others was the most important outcome. Through his extraordinary mentoring qualities, he profoundly affected each of his many colleagues, and set the tone for the Bohlin Cywinski Jackson practice that we enjoy today. Dick appeared to leave the more visible aspects of design to Peter and others. However, the nature, diversity and extent of Bohlin [Powell] Cywinski Jackson's design achievements would not have been possible without him. Our traditions of rooting design in the many realities of circumstance and in the interaction of clients and colleagues are owed in large measure to Dick.

We will all miss him, and we recognize his living legacy across our five offices as a tribute to him.

In celebration of his life relatives and friends are invited to a reception in the Conservatory at White Horse Village, 535 Gradyville Road, Newtown Square, PA, on Saturday, February 24, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made either to The Battleship New Jersey; www.battleshipnewjersey.org/supp or to the Senior Choir of The Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, 525 Montgomery Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA, 19010, checks made payable to Fine Arts Council, BMPC, with Senior Choir on the memo line.