Susan Child MLA ’81, RS ’75 passed away at her home in New Haven, Connecticut, on November 13, 2018. She received numerous awards in recognition of her work. Within ten years of graduating from Harvard, her firm garnered thirteen National Design Awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). She was inducted as a Fellow of the ASLA in 2011. She lectured widely at symposia and schools of design throughout her career, inspiring her students and the public with a compelling narrative of design. 

Upon graduation from the GSD in 1981, Child partnered with Harvard professor Peter Hornbeck to found the landscape architecture firm Child, Hornbeck Associates, Inc, in Boston. Within months, Douglas Reed, whom Child had met as a classmate at Harvard, joined the firm, first as an associate and later as a partner when Hornbeck departed in 1984 (at which point the firm became Child Associates, Inc., Landscape Architecture). Child’s ability to conceptualize landscape, draw from precedent, and employ minimal means in her expression of place influenced numerous colleagues, including Reed, Duncan Alford, Anita Berrizbeitia, Chris Moyles, and John Grove, among others.

Read Susan’s full obituary