Dear Price community:
It is with deep sadness that I inform you that our colleague and friend, Ki Suh Park, passed away at his home earlier this week after a long and valiant battle with cancer. Ki Suh was a valued and respected member of our school’s Board of Councilors, serving as a trusted advisor and close friend to many of us at USC Price. We were also privileged to have Ki Suh serve as the chair of our Master of Planning Advisory Board for many years.
Ki Suh Park was Managing Partner of Gruen Associates, where he directed the worldwide architecture, planning, transportation, environmental, landscape architecture and interiors activities of the architectural and planning firm. He joined Gruen Associates in 1961, was named vice president in 1968, partner in 1972 and managing partner (CEO) in 1981.
Ki Suh arrived in Los Angeles in 1953 from war-torn South Korea, with a dream to become an architect in order to rebuild communities. Upon arrival, Ki Suh attended and completed degrees at East Los Angeles Junior College, UC Berkeley and earned separate master’s degrees in architecture and city planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Over the course of his career, Ki Suh was honored with numerous distinctions and accolades. Among his many achievements, he was the first Korean American to be named to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects. He was also the recipient of the 1991 Distinguished Leadership Award from the California chapter of the American Planning Association. In 1994, Ki Suh became the first Korean American to receive the Whitney M. Young Jr. Award from the AIA in honor of the late civil rights leader who in 1968 challenged architects to assume professional responsibility toward social issues. In 1999, Ki Suh was elected a Fellow in the founding class of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners; later that year, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Service from the AIA California Council.
Ki Suh devoted his life to making Los Angeles a better place by promoting smart urban planning, advocating for racial justice, and improving the quality of life for people and their communities.
I invite you to read more about Ki Suh’s inspirational life in this archived Los Angeles Times news article: “The Sunday Profile: One Man’s Vision.”
Los Angeles has lost someone very special. Indeed, Ki Suh’s many accomplishments, his contributions to USC, and his strength of character will be greatly missed by all of us at the Price School.
Sincerely,
Jack H. Knott
Dean