Patrick Curley ’69

Brooks School Trustee Emeritus W. J. Patrick Curley ’69 died on December 2, 2022. Here, the Bulletin remembers his life and begins to describe the impact Curley had on the school’s campus and the ways in which Brooksians continue to nurture community every day.

W. J. Patrick Curley ’69 had a palpable, tangible vision for Brooks, and over the course of his time on the school’s board of trustees, he made that vision real in a way that few of his fellow trustees ever have. Curley was an architect, and his expertise was instrumental on numerous construction projects in the center of campus. Perhaps the most seminal example of Curley’s influence on the school is something that hundreds of Brooksians point to as a simple act that speaks volumes about the strength and significance of the school community: Saying hello on a daily basis to friends, teachers and colleagues on Main Street. Curley’s vision of a fully pedestrianized Main Street, which allows for the free flow of Brooksians between the Academic Building and Wilder Dining Hall, cements a core piece of the Brooks experience and will for decades to come. The board of trustees voted to award Curley with a trustee emeritus distinction shortly before his passing. Only a handful of trustees in the school’s history have served on the board for as long as Curley’s 28 years.

Obituary

Walter Joseph Patrick Curley ’69 died peacefully at 71 years of age on December 2, 2022, at home in New York City. Curley was born in Chennai, India, in 1951 to Walter and Mary Curley of Pittsburgh and New York. After living in India and Italy, the family moved to New York where Curley attended Buckley School, followed by Brooks, Trinity College and the Yale School of Architecture. At Trinity, Curley met Jane Bayard, his wife of 43 years. He loved spending summers with Jane, and their sons Joe and Will, at the Onteora Club in Tannersville, New York, and visiting Canada and Western Ireland with family and friends.

Curley was a thoughtful collaborator, trusted adviser and master raconteur. Whether managing building projects, directing college campus designs, producing his “Patflix” home videos or uncannily recreating the sound of just about anything, Curley always enjoyed sharing his creativity, wit and warmth with others. Curley happily worked as an architect at Mayers & Schiff for more than 20 years. He was later a principal at the firms of EYP, Cannon Design and Fletcher Thompson.

“I don’t think there is any single trustee who had a more profound impact on how our school’s physical campus feels and functions than Patrick Curley. This is particularly true of Main Street. … For the past 28 years, his hand and feel for our campus has played a behind-the-scenes role in reshaping the school in ways that we all routinely enjoy day in and day out, more so now than ever. From Wilder Dining Hall to the science building to the Danforth Squash and Rowing Center to the Class of 2020 Quad to this Ashburn Chapel to the Center for the Arts and all the way to our new admission building, and the green space and quads we have added along Main Street over time, we have Mr. Curley to thank for his wisdom, expertise and, above all else, his love for and commitment to Brooks School.”

Curley accrued more than 30 years of architectural experience with college and university projects. He worked on numerous campuses, including Columbia University, Fordham University and various campuses in the State University of New York system, as well as campuses abroad. Curley’s projects include virtually every type of campus facility, including academic, science, athletic, residential and student life buildings, as well as campus master planning.

Curley led the Robert Lehman Art Center committee for the past 26 years and also volunteered on several reunion committees. During his four years as a Brooks student, he was a member of the art association, the ski club, and the Bishop and the Shield staffs, in addition to being a dorm prefect and participating on the crew, football and wrestling teams.

Along with his 28 years of service on the Brooks School Board of Trustees, Curley served for many years on the boards of the Onteora Club, The Children’s Storefront, The Yale Club of New York and the Irish Heritage Trust, which is charged by the Irish government with renovating and operating historic Irish properties for the public benefit.

Curley is survived by Jane, his wife of 43 years, and their sons William and Joseph. He is predeceased by his brother, James Curley ’75, and cousin

Alexander Laughlin Jr. ’70. Curley was a member of a large extended Brooks family, with relatives Thomas Hitchcock III ’57, Peter Stephaich ’73, Joseph Walton ’74, David Laughlin ’77, P’08, Lisa Bottomley ’96 and Serena Laughlin ’08, all graduates of the school.

In His Own Words

“At Brooks I learned visual literacy. That really came to me through two particular people. One was Mike King in the studio arts world, and the other was Mark Shovan in Room M, in the realm of movies.

Mike King taught me that my proclivity for things that I did with my eyeballs was coordinated with what I did with my hands, and I found a lot of great support in the arts studio. That became crucial to my eventual career, although I didn’t know it at the time, of being an architect. Mark Shovan then took me into Room M, and I realized that my love of movies had to do with a two-dimensional medium that unfolded over time and became the same thing that happens in architecture: Spaces, experiences, lighting, points of view, also happening over the course of time. So, putting those two together, and problemsolving my eyes, my hands, my sense of time, my sense of three dimensions; both started here at Brooks in the arts department and in Room M, at the hands of Mike King and Mark Shovan.”