Donald Campbell Richardson of, Doylestown, passed away on January 8, 2020. He was 85 years old and the husband of the late Nancy L. Richardson, who passed in September 2016.
Born in Summit, New Jersey, he was the son of the late Donald and Margaret Richardson, who were residents of Springfield and West Orange, New Jersey and Manhasset, New York. Before Don and Nancy returned to where they met in Doylestown, they were residents of Maplewood, New Jersey for nearly 40 years.
Don was a graduate of Delaware Valley University (Doylestown) and received a master’s degree in Landscape Architecture (MLA) from Harvard University. He had a prolific career as a Landscape Architect and Professional Planner spanning over six decades both consulting and teaching in the profession he loved. He practiced at the nationally recognized firm of Zion & Breen Richardson Associates since 1961. He served as past president of the New York Chapter and was a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
His work will live on in the hundreds of private and public projects he designed in the greater New York area, nationally and internationally. Such notable design projects include, the Museum of Modern Art Sculpture Garden (New York), Paley Park (the original “pocket park” in New York), Liberty State Park (Jersey City, New Jersey), Riverfront Park (Cincinnati, Ohio), Rutgers University Campus Master Plan (New Brunswick, New Jersey) and Streetscape Improvement Projects in Maplewood (Springfield Avenue) and South Orange (Village), to name just a few.
Don served on the Association Council of the Harvard Graduate School of Design and as Adjunct Professor of Landscape Architecture at Rutgers University and the City University of New York. He has also served as visiting lecturer at the School of Continuing Education in New York University, lecturer at Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania School of Architecture, Cornell University School of Landscape Architecture and University of Arizona School of Landscape Architecture. In 1973, he was appointed by Governor Cahill of New Jersey to a legislative commission to study State Land Use Policies and has served on the New Jersey State Board of Architects and Landscape Architects Don was appointed as a member of the National Academy of Art of New York. He served as a board member of the Regional Plan Association – New Jersey Committee.
He received the coveted Maple Leaf award for outstanding community service in 2002. Both he and his wife, on the same evening, were honored with these awards for their dedication of volunteering in countless ways to help make Maplewood a great community. Don served on the Maplewood boards of adjustment and planning for over twenty-five years.
Even later in his life, he remained active with local volunteer activities. He was a member of the Doylestown Environmental Action/Open Space/Hike to Bike Committee and a Trustee of Delaware Valley University. He was a big fan of the DVU football team and could be found cheering in the stands for the team he played for over a half-century ago.
Don is survived by his son, Donald W. Richardson, his wife, Margaret, of New Jersey and his daughter, Martha R. Janowski, her husband, John, of Virginia, his five grandchildren and his companion, Roberta Devries.
An outside interment ceremony of Don’s ashes will be held in the spring in St. Georges Episcopal Church Memorial Garden, Maplewood New Jersey, one of the many Church memorial gardens he designed throughout his career.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Don’s name may be made to a charity of the donor’s choice.