Architect,  Urban Planner. Internationally recognized, he was considered to be Canada’s most accomplished modernist architect. Born in Vancouver, he studied Asian languages at the University of British Columbia. In 1943 he joined the Canadian Army and served in India, Ceylon and Malaysia. By the end of World War II, he was a captain in the Canadian Intelligence Corps. Inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s home Taliesin West, Erickson decided that architecture was the profession for him. He earned his degree in 1950 from McGill University and received a travelling scholarship as the top graduate in his class. This, along with a veteran’s grant, allowed him to tour parts of Asia, Africa and Europe for almost three years. After returning to Vancouver, he taught at UBC and started a firm with Geoffrey Massey. Erickson gained prominence in 1963 for the award-winning Simon Fraser University campus in Burnaby, BC. He was acclaimed for designs that blend the influences of culture, climate and site to bring a human scale to buildings. The innovative use of concrete and glass was notable in many of his projects.  Erickson’s buildings include the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, the Canadian Chancery (embassy) in Washington, DC, California Plaza in Los Angeles, and the Kuwait Oil Sector Complex in Kuwait City.  Erickson was the first Canadian to win the prestigious American Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 1986. Numerous other awards include the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Gold Medal, the French Académie d’Architecture Gold Medal, and elevation in 1981 from Officer to Companion of the Order of Canada. He was admittedly less skilled as a businessman, accumulating over $10 million in debts that forced him into bankruptcy in 1992. Bouncing back with major commissions such as the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA he continued to work until 2005. His health declined in his last years due to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases before he passed away at age 84. (bio by: Milou)