Gene Kohn, co-founder of architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox, whose work was behind some of the most famous real estate projects of the last 50 years, has died at 92.
Kohn died Thursday morning after battling cancer for a year, his firm announced.
Alongside William Pedersen and Sheldon Fox, Kohn co-founded KPF in 1976. The firm went on to design recognizable projects around the world, including the World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C., One Vanderbilt, the Museum of Modern Art and most of Hudson Yards in Manhattan, as well as the Ping An Financial Centre in Shenzen, China, and the Lotte World Tower in Seoul — the world’s fifth- and sixth-tallest buildings, respectively.
The New York-based firm now has over 700 employees and offices on three continents, according to its website.
In a statement, KPF president James von Klemperer said some of the firm’s most notable projects wouldn’t have reached their full potential without Kohn’s “easy charm and focused intensity.”
“Gene was universally respected in the community for his ability to achieve consensus,” von Klemperer said.
Kohn was born in 1930 and raised in Philadelphia, where he went on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Pennsylvania. He was an active duty member of the U.S. Navy for three years and spent another five in reserve duty, rising to lieutenant commander.
When the trio founded KPF, Kohn served as the firm’s first chairman and president. In 1990, 14 years after its formation, KPF became the youngest architecture firm to be recognized with the AIA Architecture Firm Award.
Kohn personally won numerous accolades during his career, including the National Building Museum Chairman’s Award, the Skyscraper Museum Award and the Soane Foundation Honors. Earlier this year, Kohn was awarded the Freedom of the City of London, where KPF contributed to the Unilever building and the master plan for renovating and preserving the city’s historic Covent Garden shopping district.
In 2019, Kohn published a memoir, “The World by Design: The Story of a Global Architecture Firm,” which was co-written by Clifford Pearson.
He is survived by his wife, Barbara, his sons, Steven and Brian, his daughter, Laurie, and several grandchildren.
Kohn is the second world-famous architect to die this month. Last week, Rafael Viñoly, the Uruguayan architect behind 432 Park Avenue and 125 Greenwich Street in Manhattan, died at 78.
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