Moment of Silence

Landscape Architect Edward Blake Jr. (1947-2010)

Landscape Architect Edward Blake Jr.

Edward Blake, Jr., ASLA passed away in his sleep early Monday, August 30 from an apparent heart attack. He was 63. His wife, Marilyn, told hattiesburgamerican.com he was having trouble breathing when he went to bed. Mr. Blake was undergoing cancer treatments, but the couple felt his battle with cancer was won.

A member of the Mississippi ASLA Chapter reported having a long phone conversation with Edward on August 25. Edward indicated he was doing well enough to fly to Indianapolis the first week of Sept. He was also scheduled to be in D.C. as one of the speakers for an educational session Friday, Sept. 10 at the ASLA annual meeting. The title of the session was ''Landscape Architecture Leadership for Challenges of the 21st Century.''

Ed Blake, ASLA was the owner of The Landscape Studio in Hattiesburg, Miss., described on the website as a ''small, land planning and site design effort of four with a commitment to making places that express the human-made place in Nature.''

One of Edward Blake Jr.'s projects was Crosby Arboretum at Mississippi State University. This 104-acre native plant center offers natural landscapes and protects threatened plant and animal species. Photo: Edward Blake Jr., The Landscape Studio

He was the landscape architect for Crosby Arboretum project at Mississippi State University in Picayune that won a 1991 ASLA Professional Design Honor Award. Andropogon Associates was the landscape architecture consultant for that project.

Other projects included:

• Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park (Indianapolis Museum of Art)
• Vicksburg Art Park
• Mississippi Capitol Grounds
• University of Mississippi's museums master plan
• Art Garden at Mississippi Museum of Art
• Mississippi Museum of Natural Science
• Cedars Plantation
• Lake Terrace Convention Center, Hattiesburg
• Biloxi National Cemetery
• Land planning in Chengdu, China (''The Pride of Sichuan'')