Ernest A Grunsfeld III FAIA (d. 2011)
Tony Grunsfeld died in April 2011. The firm, and everyone that worked with him, will always miss him and his contributions to architecture.
Ernest A. Grunsfeld III attended the Institute of Design in the summer of 1945 while still at Francis W. Parker and studied under Ralph Rapson and Gregory Kepes. In 1947 he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received his professional degree in 1952. Returning to Chicago, Grunsfeld worked in the office of George Fred Keck and William Keck. In 1953 Grunsfeld was commissioned into the U. S. Air Force as an Air Installation Officer and served until the end of the Korean War in Bangor Maine, designing buildings for air force bases in the northeast United States. Returning to Chicago, Grunsfeld worked in the offices of SOM, Holabird and Root and Bertram Goldberg.
In 1956 Grunsfeld established the firm of Yerkes and Grunsfeld Architects with Wallace F. Yerkes that was later dissolved upon Mr. Yerkes death in October of 1965. Grunsfeld and Associates, Architects was the continuation of the former firm with Grunsfeld as the sole owner.
In 2001 Grunsfeld’s firm Grunsfeld and Associates, Architects merged with Thomas Shafer’s firm Shafer Architects PC to form Grunsfeld Shafer Architects, LLC. Grunsfeld is currently licensed to practice in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin.
Grunsfeld had been a member of the Council of the Arts at M.I.T. since 1977 and served on its Executive Committee from 1977 through 1989. He has been a Director and Vice President of Urban Gateways, Inc., and served on the Urban Gateways Advisory Council. Grunsfeld was President of the Ernest A. Grunsfeld Memorial Fund, an arts and educational family foundation. In 1971 the Mayor of Highland Park appointed Mr. Grunsfeld to the Plan Commission on which he served for four years. Grunsfeld had been a Director of the City Club of Chicago and served on its Housing Committee and served as a Member of Woodlawn Hospital.
Grunsfeld is a Founding Life Sustaining Fellow of The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Life Honorary Governing Member of the Art Institute of Chicago, a Governing Member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and a Governing Member of the Chicago Horticultural Society. He was also a member of The Arts Club of Chicago, The Tavern Club, and Lake Shore Country Club.
Grunsfeld was the father of two, and grandfather of eight. His son, Dr. John Grunsfeld, is a former NASA Chief Scientist and a veteran of six spaceflights. His father, Ernest Grunsfeld Jr., was the architect of numerous important commissions in Chicago including the Adler Planetarium.
Click here to read Tony’s Oral History with the Art Institute of Chicago.
