Harry Antoniades Anthony

IRVINE, CALIFORNIA – Harry Antoniades Anthony, age 95, longtime resident of La Jolla, California, beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, uncle and professor, passed away on February 26, 2018 in Irvine, California.

Harry Antoniades Anthony was born in Skyros, Greece on July 28, 1922, the fifth child of Anthony and Maria Antoniades. He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Anne Skoufis Anthony, the love of his life.

Also surviving are their two children: Mary Anne Anthony (John) Smith of Irvine, California, and Kathryn Harriet Anthony of Urbana, Illinois and La Jolla, California; three grandchildren, Alexander (Arlene) Chousmith, Anastasia Smith (Jake) Lewis, and Jeannette Joy Smith (Derrick Chan); and four great grandchildren: Anderson and Alexander Chousmith, and Michael and Ethan Lewis.

Harry Anthony completed his undergraduate education at the National Technical University in Athens. A life-changing fellowship from the French government allowed him to escape war-torn Greece to study in Paris, where he earned his master’s degree at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts and his first doctorate degree at the Sorbonne. He later completed a second Ph.D. at Columbia University.

While in Paris he worked as an architect and planner for the office of the world-renown architect LeCorbusier and for the U.S. Embassy on the implementation of the Marshall Plan. Among his friends at the Embassy was Peter Skoufis, whose sister, Anne, was visiting from Bangor, Maine. Harry and Anne were married in Paris in 1950 and moved to New York the following year.

In New York City, he worked for Skidmore Owings and Merrill on the design of Idlewild (now JFK) Airport, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and Habana del Este in Cuba.

He was a professor of urban planning at Columbia University in New York City for 19 years and directed its division of urban planning for six years. In his first ten years at Columbia, he was promoted through the ranks from instructor to full professor. He was instrumental in bringing LeCorbusier to Columbia in 1961 to participate in a historic symposium on “The Four Great Makers of Modern Architecture”.

As a planning consultant leading the firm Brown and Anthony City Planners, he advised scores of city officials in New York, New Jersey, Ohio, and Virginia, as well as in New Orleans, San Diego, Aqaba, Hamburg, Jerusalem, Quebec, and Tehran, about planning their futures. He also served as Vice-President of Doxiadis Associates in Washington, DC and was a consultant to the United Nations.

In 1971 he fulfilled his dream of moving to Southern California when he was recruited to serve as chair of the department of urban planning at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, one of the largest such departments in the US. As professor of urban planning at Cal Poly for 14 years (1972-1986), he served as chair for four years. He also served briefly as chair of the department of architecture.

Always a charismatic teacher, in 1975 he was elected Cal Poly’s Outstanding Professor. During his tenure at Cal Poly he promoted the success of underrepresented students by establishing a tutorial program and procuring grants for scholarships. He also taught in the urban studies program at the University of California at San Diego.

His many other prizes and teaching awards include The Richard T. Ely Distinguished Educator Award from Lambda Alpha International and the Distinguished Service Award from the San Diego Section of the American Planning Association.

His work as an urban planner, educator, researcher, author, and faculty leader had a global impact. He taught thousands of students--many of whom became notable architects and city planners in the US and around the world--about the importance of urban design and well-planned cities. He authored scores of scholarly publications and professional reports throughout his career, including a book, The Challenge of Squatter Settlements.

Harry Anthony embraced life and traveled throughout the world. He was fluent in Greek, French, and English and impressed friends and strangers alike by reciting passages of the Odyssey in its original Ancient Greek. He was an accomplished poet in Modern Greek. In 2004 the International Society of Greek Writers, Letters-Arts-Culture named him Laureate in Architecture and Poetry.

He was civic-minded and gave back to his community. For over 20 years he donated his services as the consulting architect for his final signature achievement, the design of Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church at Cardiff-by-the-Sea near San Diego, California whose large golden dome has become a local landmark. After the construction scaffolding was removed, the reflection of sunlight and moonlight on the dome miraculously, and unexpectedly, appeared in the shape of a cross. In recognition of the church’s inspiring architectural design, the Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church awarded Harry Anthony the Gold Medal of St. Paul and the San Diego Chapters of the American Institute of Architects and the American Planning Association honored it with an Orchid Award.

For 30 years he served as chair of the architectural committee of his homeowners’ association, the first planned residential district in San Diego. He was an active member of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association, participated in the UCSD Stein Institute for Research on Aging, and supported numerous cultural organizations in the San Diego area.

A portion of Harry Anthony’s professional archives can be found at the Geisel Library at the University of California at San Diego and the Avery Library at Columbia University. Additional archives are included in the oral history collection of the National Hellenic Museum in Chicago.

Harry was much beloved by all who knew him throughout his life and will be forever missed.

Services will be at Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church, 3459 Manchester Avenue, Cardiff-By-the-Sea, California. Burial will follow at El Camino Memorial Park, San Diego.

Memorial donations can be sent to Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church, 3459 Manchester Avenue, Cardiff-By-the-Sea, CA 92007:

http://www.stsconstantinehelen.com/memorials and to the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Cal Poly Pomona for student scholarships: https://cpp.thankyou4caring.org/pages/harryanthony .