TRIBUTE

by Douglas E. Gordon, Hon. AIA
Executive Editor

Summary: Stephen A. Kliment, FAIA, former editor in chief of Architectural Record, noted writer, lecturer, teacher, and proponent for minority architects died September 10 while traveling with family in Bavaria. The cause was cancer, said his wife.

“A professor in heart and demeanor, Kliment had both an understated presence and an overwhelming zeal for the profession of architecture, architecture itself, and those who advanced the cause of the profession,” AIA President Marshall E. Purnell said in remembrance.

Always an advocate of the practice-oriented elements of the technical and business sides of architecture, in the past several years, Kliment focused especially on the social landscape of inclusiveness. He contributed a series of articles last year in AIArchitect, which culminated in his “25 Steps to Diversity,” which he was in the process of making into a book. He was also in communication with the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture building selection committee to be a juror for selection of an architect and was adamant that the selected firm be minority-owned.

“Ivenue and I are devastated to the point of tears for the person who was perhaps the closest mentor in our professional lives,” said William J. Stanley III, FAIA, an architect whose work Kliment highlighted in the most recent issue of Faith and Form.

“I have spent much of today reflecting on Steve, and what a quality individual he was,” said National Organization of Minority Architects President-elect R. Steven Lewis, NOMA, AIA, on learning of Kliment’s death. “He will certainly be missed by me and by all in NOMA who came to know him and to appreciate the support that he gave as a champion for black architects.”

“As word of Steve’s passing moved quickly by phone and e-mail from person to person across the country, the universal reaction was of deep sadness that such a remarkable individual was so suddenly taken away,” said AIA Executive Vice President/CEO Christine McEntee. “The thoughts of the entire architectural community are with his family and the many, many people who knew Steve and considered him a friend.”

A career of professional dedication
Born in pre-World War II Prague, Kliment grew up in England (and kept his distinctive British accent all his life). He came to the U.S. after the war and earned his BA in architecture from MIT in 1953 and his MArch from Princeton in 1957. Subsequently, he also studied architecture in Paris and Havana.

He was a former member of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, was editor-in-chief of Architectural & Engineering News from 1960 to 1968, and became a partner with Caudill Rowlett Scott, where he worked from 1968 to 1980 and directed the firm's marketing communications.

Following his time as an acquisitions editor at John Wiley & Sons from 1987 to 1990, Kliment spent the next six years as Architectural Record editor-in-chief, developing that magazine into one of the three top architectural publications of the time—it remains the only of those three still in publication with a legacy of nearly a century.

Working well past the typical age of retirement, Kliment spent the last 15 years as editor-in-chief of the Institute of Management & Administration Principal’s Report, working also on its Design Firm Management & Administration Report. He also wrote and co-wrote six Building Type Basics books for Wiley, a 15-book series he founded. He also authored Architectural Sketching and Rendering and Writing for Design Professionals, 2nd edition.

Extremely active in the AIA, Kliment served on the AIA New York Chapter Board of Directors and as editorial director of the chapter’s periodical, Oculus. A constant innovator, he also oversaw development of the Web-based e-Oculus.

His articles have appeared in Architecture, Residential Architect, Architectural Digest, The New York Times, Faith and Form, and AIArchitect. He taught communications at Washington University in St. Louis, Harvard University, and the City College of the City University of New York, where he was an adjunct professor of architecture.

Kliment is survived by his wife Felecia, two daughters, two grandchildren, and his brother Robert Kliment, FAIA, of Kliment & Halsband.