Douglas S. Kelbaugh ’67

Doug died at his home in Seattle Feb. 18, 2023, after complications from a fall during a rare ice storm.

Doug came to Princeton following in the footsteps of brother John ’65, father John ’35, and grandfather Franklin Travis 1909. He spent sophomore year traveling the world and graduated in 1968, magna cum laude in architecture. He was in Charter Club, played freshman lacrosse, founded the Student Art Agency, and was active in the National Association of Student Architects and Planners. He roomed with Stewart Marr, Nick Adamson, and John Bitner.

Doug worked for VISTA for two years, completed a master’s degree in architecture at Princeton in 1972, and was an architect and urban planner for the city of Trenton. In 1974, he designed one of the country’s first Trombe wall homes (on Pine Street in Princeton), then formed a firm that pioneered passive solar buildings. He co-founded the national passive solar movement and the Congress for the New Urbanism.

In 1985, Doug became a professor and chair of the department of architecture at the University of Washington. In 1998, he was appointed dean of the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan. He received the AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education, edited four books, and wrote four more, the last of which was The Urban Fix: Resilient Cities in the War Against Climate Change, Heat Islands, and Overpopulation.

In 2020, Doug moved back to Seattle. He was a Tibetan Buddhist and attended the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in Seattle. 

Doug is survived by his wife, Kathleen Nolan; his children Casey Kelbaugh and Tess MacDonald; grandchildren Ramsey and Nell; sister Molly Druck; and former wife Meg Ryan.