One of the most significant Canadian architects of his era is being remembered this week after news that Diamond Schmitt co-founder Abel Joseph “Jack” Diamond passed away this weekend in Toronto at the age of 89.

Diamond was a mainstay on his adopted country’s architecture scene since first going into the practice in the early 1960s. Born in South Africa in 1932, Diamond studied for an architecture degree at the University of Cape Town in 1956 before reading Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) at Oxford University and then immigrating to the United States to attend the University of Pennsylvania, where he completed his master’s studies in architecture and began his career as an apprentice to Louis Kahn.

Diamond moved to Toronto in 1964, where he served as the inaugural director of UT’s Master of Architecture program and eventually founded his own practice, A.J. Diamond Architects, with American Barton Myers in 1975.

It was with Donald Schmitt that his career began to take off after the two formed Diamond Schmitt three years later. Together, their work on projects like Toronto’s Richmond Hill Library and the Life Sciences Center at McGill University made the firm a staple throughout Canada, garnering Diamond a Gold Medal from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) in 2001 and an appointment as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1995.

The firm’s substantial body of work outside of Canada includes the concept for the United Kingdom Holocaust Memorial and Learning Center design, the Israeli Foreign Ministry building, the Mariinsky II Opera and Ballet Hall in St. Petersburg, and the just-completed co-design (along with TWBTA) of the reimagined new David Geffen Hall at New York City's Lincoln Center.

"Jack Diamond’s contribution to urban reform was profound.  He led the implementation of infill housing in Toronto to strengthen existing neighbourhoods at risk," Schmitt said, speaking of his colleagues overarching comitttment to urban planning efforts in Canada. "He demonstrated the economic and societal benefits of transforming heritage for new uses. He illustrated low-rise alternatives to high-rise development at comparable land use densities.  He articulated the negative impacts of low density suburban sprawl on public transit, servicing costs, social cohesion and the environment."

"He understood that city building is ultimately about people and about how they use buildings and public space," former Toronto Mayor David Millert told the CBC, adding that he was a "towering presence in architecture globally."

A celebration of Diamond’s life will now be held on November 19th at 4:30pm at the firm's award-winning Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto.