Former Trustee, Architect Earl Flansburgh '53 Dies

Earl Flansburgh ’53, a prominent architect and former member of Cornell’s Board of Trustees, died Feb. 3 following a battle with Parkinson’s disease. 
According to the Lincoln Journal, Flansburgh, an Ithaca native and an Air Force veteran, received his masters degree in architecture at MIT in 1957 and taught at the Architectural Association in London as a Fulbright Scholar.
Following his time in England, Flansburgh lived and worked in Cambridge, establishing his own architecture firm Earl R. Flansburgh & Associates in 1963.
Over his 40-year career, Flansburgh’s work included broad projects such as a high tech teaching facility for software engineering to a U.S. Consulate in Turkey. His specialty, however, was in the planning and design of educational facilities. Flansburgh completed over 200 public, private and charter schools, as well as many university projects throughout the United States and the Middle East.
According to the Ithaca Journal, Flansburgh served on the University’s governing board from 1972-87, and he was on the board’s Building and Properties Committee. He was one of the first architects to serve as a trustee and was a continuous member of the College of Architecture, Art and Planning advisory committee. 
Flansburgh is survived by his wife, Polly, and his two sons, E. Schuyler Flansburg, an environmentalist, and John Flansburgh, a member of They Might Be Giants.