MILL VALLEY, CA — Mill Valley architectural giant and entrepreneur Art Gensler has died.
Gensler died at his home on May 10. He was 85.
The Brooklyn-born Gensler moved to the Bay Area in 1962 after completing his bachelor’s degree in architecture, art and planning at Cornell.
In 1965 he and his wife Drucilla (Drue) Cortell co-founded M. Arthur Gensler Jr. & Associates in a one-room office and with only $200 in the bank.
The San Francisco International Airport terminals and Shanghai Tower are considered his most notable works.
The Shanghai Tower is described by The New York Times as “a twisting glass structure that is China’s tallest skyscraper and the second-tallest building in the world, at 632 meters, or 2,073 feet. (The tallest is Burj Khalifa in Dubai, at 2,717 feet.)”
Gensler’s firm experienced exponential growth.
By 2019 the company employed thousands in 50 cities around the world and reported revenue exceeding $1.5 billion according to the report.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
