In Memoriam

Madison Dean

Student

Madison Dean, a returning sophomore in the BLA program, was involved in a tragic accident and passed away August 9, 2018.

She had recently returned from a misson to New Jersey and was excited to be in a major that combined her love for the outdoors and designing. Madison also worked at a local nursery, Freckle Farm, gaining plant knowledge, and taking her first steps into our profession.

Our hearts go out to the Dean family, Madison’s friends and classmates. The studios of LAEP and the lives of all who study and work here will miss her smile and creativity.

Michael Davis Jones

Alumnus

The Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Department is sad to hear of the passing of Michael Jones, BLA 2004, on August 10th, 2018 from an accidental drowning.

Michael was a licensed Landscape Architect in the State of Utah and worked for Design West in Logan, Utah. He subsequently worked for Idaho Department of Transportation, and was most recently employed with Horrocks Engineers. Michael will be greatly missed by his family and all who knew him. His dedication to our profession and love of Utah State were an inspiration.

David Jensen

Alumnus

LAEP alumnus, David Jensen passed away on August 9, 2018 in Denver, Colorado. A central figure within the LAEP community, Jensen established the David Jensen Scholarship Endowment Fund in 1989. This scholarship is used to support first and second year graduate students.

In spring 2018, the award was given to first year graduate student, Drew Hill. Hill’s work with upscale residential areas, construction documents for city submittals and design review boards, resort design and the creation of a proposal for urban design work at a ski resort in Chile, is reminiscent of Jensen’s illustrious career as founder and CEO of David Jensen Associates Inc. Throughout his career, Jensen worked with more than 600 innovative communities, ranging from 25 acres to 7,000 acres.

Previous to founding David Jensen Associates, Inc., Jensen worked for fifteen years as the Chief Operating Officer for Harmon Odonnell Henninger Associates. While there, he oversaw 72 employees and coordinated efforts internationally in places such as Sardinia, Spain, Mexico and Canada.

We will forever be grateful for the influence of David Jensen, and his legacy will live on through both his work and the work of the many students he’s helped succeed within the discipline of landscape architecture.

“I would like to donate an annual amount to my great-grandpa’s scholarship. Let this be a reminder of how important higher education was to him. He always immersed himself in research, ancestry history, land planning, photography, hunting, fishing, flower walks with his great grandson, family and most of all - teaching. He taught me so much during my first 3 years of life. Let this be one of the many ways to carry on his amazing legacy. I will continue to love learning, discovering new things, being curious, and reading books after books. I love you forever my great-grandpa.

Love your first grandson, Braden Richard Lane”

Richard "Dick" Toth

1937-2018

Former LAEP faculty member Prof. Richard “Dick” Toth, FASLA/FCELA passed away peacefully on January 3, 2018. An iconic member of the faculty team that established USU’s national reputation in design and planning, Dick’s twenty-nine years in the Department began in 1973. Having earned his Master’s in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design a decade prior, his career first began with the University of Pennsylvania followed by a return to Harvard in 1968.

Only Prof. Laval Morris, LAEP’s founder, served a longer tenure as Department Head of LAEP, and Dick’s shepherding of the program helped entrench large-scale land planning as a pillar of any degree earned in the Department. His devotion to that vision grew stronger with time, ultimately leading him to join the College of Natural Resources at USU, where he established the Masters of Science in Bioregional Planning, a program he directed until his retirement in 2014. Even following his 50th year as a faculty member in Logan, Dick devoted his time and talents to that program’s future as he joined the ranks of USU Emeriti.

Dick surrounded by former students and colleagues during the LAEP 75th anniversary celebration

Today, Dick’s legacy lives on through hundreds of LAEP alumni whose education and careers he touched. Their own determination to make sound, evidence-based solutions reflects and honors his tough, tenacious devotion to stewarding the land, while at once demanding excellence in decision-making and scenario forecasting. The degree he helped envision while in the Department, and subsequently direct for thirteen years, was able to return to LAEP as a result of him. Consequently, through enduring curricula and a new generation of talented faculty, environmental planning at USU continues.

I consider him to be one of the most significant educators in landscape architecture.

- Dr. Carl Steinitz

Dick Toth and Carlos Licon serve up breakfast at the 75th Anniversary.

In recognition of the impact of Dick’s career, LAEP alumni established the Richard E. Toth Graduate Scholarship in 2014. The Scholarship was created to “insure the ongoing excellence of education established by Prof. Toth and his colleagues, and to provide for the recruitment of exceptional graduate students into the Department’s programs.” Alumni and friends wishing to contribute to the Scholarship’s Endowment can do so at: laep.usu.edu/giving

Department of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning | InSites 2018