Remembering those we lost in 2021

Three Pritzker Prize laureates. A trailblazing Canadian landscape architect who melded modernist principles with a sense of social responsibility. A beloved journalistic mover and shaker on the New York City architecture scene. An entrepreneurial multi-hyphenate whose talents spanned fashion, architecture, music, and product design. A tireless champion of “buildings and communities that are not just good-looking but good for us.” The incomparable German-born architect behind one of this year’s most talked-about (and once-imperiled) buildings not just in Chicago but anywhere.

These are just a few of the visionaries and vanguards who we said goodbye to in 2021, a year that, like the one prior, has been characterized in part by incalculable grief and loss on a massive scale, and our thoughts are with those who have lost friends, colleagues, and loved ones to the ravages of COVID-19. This year has also been one of optimism and hope with the arrival of vaccines and a firmer understanding of how the virus works and spreads, as the last few days have demonstrated, we’re clearly not out of the woods yet.

Below is a list of just some of the individuals for whom AN published obituaries for and tributes to this past year; they are listed in the order that each respective remembrance appeared on our site. (The name of each individual is directly linked to their respective obituary/tribute.) As for those not mentioned below, AN remembers everyone who passed away in 2021 due to disease, injustice, violence, hunger, and simply the hands of time. Their memories will live on.