JR was raised in a large town in the north central part of Texas.  The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is where JR grew up.  However, his love of nature came from his experiences growing up in a garden center and working for the family business doing landscape construction.  In high school JR began showing interest in art and drawing.  When it was time to leave high school and go off to college JR selected Texas A&M University for their program in Landscape Architecture.  JR graduated in 1979 from Texas A&M University with a professional degree in landscape architecture (BSLA) and received the TAMU Landscape Architecture Faculty Award for Outstanding Student of 1979.  JR took the UNE exam in 1979 and passed which allowed him to practice as a licensed landscape architect.  He now holds a license in California as well as Texas to practice landscape architecture.  His license in Florida is inactive.  He is a member of ASLA, ULI and APA.

JR’s professional career has brought him numerous professional awards both at the state level and nationally.  While living and working in south Florida, his work and designs on the Fort Lauderdale Beach and Riverwalk earned him the ASLA/National Award of Excellence 1994 for the Fort Lauderdale Beach Revitalization and ASLA/Florida Chapter, Award of Excellence 1992, for the Riverwalk Master Plan.  Additionally, JR received ASLA/Texas Award of Excellence 1999, for the site design of Fox Sport Net Headquarters, in Las Colinas, Texas and as well as, AIA Award of Merit 1999, for the same Fox Sport Net Headquarters project.

As president of the Texas Chapter of the ASLA, in 2006 the funding and establishment of scholastic endowments was achieve for the three landscape architecture programs within the state; TAMU, TTU and UTA.  Further accomplishment during JR tenure as Texas ASLA president were establishment and funding of the TexasASLA.org website and growing the annual state conference into the first convention center venue in 2008.  JR was voted in as Texas ASLA Trustee in 2007 and severed to 2011. During this time he also served on the Texas ASLA Conference Advisory Committee.  In 2008, he served as conference chair. JR has been very active in his promotion of ASLA to the student chapters, as well.  He has served on several ASLA Student Honor & Merit Awards Jury’s to the universities.