From the Archives: A. Quincy Jones, Architect, Dies

A. Quincy Jones, former dean of the USC school of architecture and fine arts and an internationally known architect, died Friday afternoon after an apparent heart attack at the UCLA Medical Center. He was 66.

Jones had entered the hospital eight days ago for treatment of an undisclosed circulatory problem and slipped into a coma the next day, his wife said. He had been hospitalized several times in the last year for treatment of the circulatory illness, and had undergone a heart bypass operation in 1971.

Jones served for three years as dean of the USC architecture and fine arts school prior to his retirement in 1978. He was credited with reorganizing the school’s curriculum and improving its relationship with the architectural community.

Jones was a popular figure on campus. In an interview with a Times reporter last year, a former student said: “His door has always been open. He has been very sincere and caring, and very good at helping students solve their problems, both personal and professional.”

After leaving USC, Jones returned to his own firm, A. Quincy Jones, AIA, and Associates, which he operated for more than 33 years. The company won the coveted American Institute of Architects’ Architectural Firm Award for “overall achievement in architecture” in 1969 and Jones personally was the recipient of more than 70 citations for excellence in his field.

Jones, a resident of West Los Angeles, was a Fellow in the AIA. He did most of his work on private residences, but also was known for his design of the Annenberg School of Communications at USC and UCLA’s Research Library. He designed the palatial desert estate of Walter B. Annenberg, wealthy industrialist and former U.S. ambassador to England.

He was consulting and master planning architect for UC San Diego from 1965 to 1975, and for California State University, Dominguez Hills, from 1962 until his death.

Jones served as president of the AIA’s Southern California Chapter in 1960 and was founder of the Architectural Guild, a support group for USC’s Architecture School, where he taught fifth-year design students from 1952 to 1967.

He also was active in community affairs. Jones was a member of Mrs. Norman Chandler’s advisory committee for the Music Center from 1960 to ’65. He had been a trustee of the Los Angeles County Art Museum since 1975, and was on the board of directors of the Los Angeles Library Assn. from 1973 until his death.

Born Archie Quincy Jones April 29, 1913, in Kansas City, Mo., he came with his family to Los Angeles in 1919. He later attended the University of Washington, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1936. He returned to Los Angeles after graduation and worked for several architecture firms before enlisting in the Navy in 1942.

He started his West Los Angeles firm shortly after his discharge from the Navy.

Jones leaves his wife, Elaine Sewell Jones, 62; sons Michael, 34 and Timothy, 23, both of the Los Angeles area; and daughter, Hillary, 26, of San Francisco. All the children are by a previous marriage to Anne Jones of Santa Monica.

The family plans no funeral service, but requests that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the A. Quincy Jones Memorial Scholarship Fund at the USC architecture and fine arts school.

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