Michael Graves

Long-time Princeton resident Michael Graves passed away peacefully at home on Thursday, March 12, 2015. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1934, Graves came to Princeton University to teach in 1962 and opened his architectural firm two years later. 2014 marked the 50^th Anniversary of his practice (through April 5, Grounds For Sculpture is exhibiting “Michael Graves: Past as Prologue” in their Museum and Domestic Arts Building). He remained on the faculty at Princeton University until his retirement in 2001 and retained the title of the Robert Schirmer Professor of Architecture, Emeritus following his retirement.

Michael Graves was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, (FAIA), and is credited with broadening the role of the architect in society and raising public interest in good design as essential to the quality of everyday life. Graves is the president and founding principal of Michael Graves Architecture & Design (MGA&D), which provides architecture, interior design, and master planning services, as well as product design, graphic design, and branding services. MGA&D’s offices are located in Princeton and New York City.

Graves has directly influenced the transformation of urban architecture from abstract modernism toward more contextual responses. Critic Paul Goldberger, writing in The New York Times, called Graves, “truly the most original voice in American architecture.” Graves’s architectural practice has designed over 350 buildings worldwide encompassing most building types.

The product design practice has designed and brought to market over 2,000
products with Target Stores and JCPenney, and manufacturers such as Alessi, Stryker, Kimberly-Clark, Steuben, and Disney.

Graves has received prestigious awards including the AIA Gold Medal, the National Medal of Arts from President Clinton, and the Topaz Medallion from the AIA/ACSA. Graves is the 2012 Richard H. Driehaus Prize Laureate. Graves has become internationally recognized as a healthcare design advocate, with the Center for Health Design naming him one of the Top 25 Most Influential People in Healthcare Design. In 2013, President Obama appointed Graves to the United States Access Board.

Graves received his architectural training at the University of Cincinnati and Harvard University. In 1960, he won the Rome Prize and studied for two years at the American Academy in Rome, of which he is now a Trustee. Graves has received 14 honorary doctorates and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

Graves is survived by his daughter, Sarah Graves Stelfox, her husband Brad Stelfox; three grandchildren: William, Katherine, and Nathaniel Stelfox; two sons, Adam Graves, and Michael Sebastian Min Graves, and his companion, Minxia Lin.

A memorial service is being planned at Princeton University on Sunday, April 12, 2015. Please check the firm’s website at www.mi
chaelgraves.com for details as they develop.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. One of the projects that Michael was most passionate about, he believed in Madonna’s mission and vision to rebuild lives using world-class technology, translational research, and family-like culture. The memorials for Michael Graves will all be used to help build the rehabilitation hospital that he designed and to honor him with a permanent naming opportunity. Checks can be made out to Madonna Foundation-Omaha Campus and sent to: Madonna Foundation, 5401 South Street, Lincoln, NE 68506.

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Merna Goldberg

Merna (Bunny) Goldberg passed peacefully on March 10, 2015 at her home in Princeton surrounded by her family. She was born in Newark, New Jersey on August 8, 1936, daughter of Herman and Bobbi Davis. She leaves behind her devoted husband of 57 years, Marvin Goldberg. She was predeceased by her son, David Goldberg. She is survived by her son Robert Goldberg and wife Sara; her daughter Amy Benjamin, and husband, Alan; and daughter in law, Betina Goldberg Rappoport. She leaves behind seven loving grandchildren: Margaret, Jacob, Emanuel, Daniel, Hannah and Lili Goldberg, and Jesse Benjamin.

Bunny attended Mount Sinai School of Nursing in New York City where she was the recipient of the Guggenheim Award for Nursing. Bunny was a founder and co-director of Hi Hills Day Camp in Somerset County for 36 years. She was a volunteer at the University Medical Center at Princeton and at McCarter Theater, where she was also a member of the Associate Board. She established the annual David Goldberg Lecture in Architecture in conjunction with the Arts Council of Princeton. She also served as a Community Fellow at Princeton University.

Bunny loved nature and enjoyed being by the ocean and in the woods. She loved farms and animals and once worked as a guide at Terhune Orchards in Princeton. She especially valued time spent with her devoted family and her wonderful friends.

Funeral services were held at the Star of David Memorial Chapel, 40 Vandeventer Avenue in Princeton on Friday, March 13, 2015 at 10 a.m. Shiva was observed at their home on 8 Greenholm Street on Saturday, March 14, 2015.

Memorial contributions may be sent to the Arts Council of Princeton, 102 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ 08540.

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Margaret Merrill

Margaret Kirkwood Menzies Merrill died early on March 9, 2015 at her home in Skillman, New Jersey, where she had lived for four years. She had previously resided in Princeton Junction from 1965 to 2010. Margaret was born in Richmond, Virginia and lived in that area throughout her childhood with the exception of a year in Scotland with her parents’ families during the Depression.

She attended Mary Washington College, graduating in 1951 with a degree in Spanish. The Alumnae Placement office encouraged her to accept a primary school teaching job, starting a career that spanned over 40 years, taking off only a few years to start a family before being lured back to the profession that was her calling. While teaching in Martinsville, Virginia, she met her future husband, David Dayton Merrill, a DuPont employee. They married in 1955 and moved to Wilmington, Delaware, and then Charlotte, North Carolina, before finally settling permanently in Princeton Junction.

She was best known for her gifted teaching, and she wove her love of art, music, literature, science, and the humanities into the classroom where many hundreds of children were infected with the joy of learning.

Her husband died in 1985, and she continued teaching until her retirement in 1995. She then filled her days with church activities, grandchildren, and a determination to gather all the good books she came across and give them a home.

She is survived by her sister, Jean Menzies Pleasants of Ashland, Virginia and her husband Joseph; her younger brother John Menzies and his wife Shirley of Mechanicsville, Virginia; and her sister-in-law, Janet Menzies, the widow of Margaret’s youngest brother, Walter Menzies, Jr., of Mechanicsville, Virginia. Also surviving are two daughters: Margaret Elisabeth Walls and her husband John, of Salisbury, North Carolina; and Lynn Ann Cornell and her husband David, of Princeton, and their two children, Marjorie Kirkwood Cornell of North Brunswick, New Jersey and James Ellerson Cornell of Atlanta, Georgia; and a rich circle of extended family and friends.

A memorial service in celebration of her life and in witness to the resurrection will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 21, 2015 at her church home, Nassau Presbyterian Church, 61 Nassau Street in Princeton. Contributions may be made to Nassau Presbyterian Church, the Trenton Children’s Chorus, Crisis Ministries of Princeton and Trenton, or Centurion Ministries.

Arrangements are under the direction of The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, Princeton.

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