Lester A. Collins ’37

MAGNIFICENT landscape architect Les Collins died July 7, 1993, of cancer, leaving his wife of 47 years, Petronella, and a son, Oliver. Daughter Abigail and son Adrian predeceased him.

Les prepared at Choate. He majored in English at Princeton, receiving honors, but left in sophomore year for Harvard, where he majored in architecture. In 1940, he studied garden construction in the Orient and later taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. In 1942, he joined the American Field Service and spent considerable time in North Africa, ending up as a captain. In 1953 and 1954, he was a Fulbright scholar in Japan.

Les's work ranged from the Nail. Zoo in Washington to a master plan for the city of Roanoke. He also designed landsapes for the U.S. Naval Academy, V.M.L, Georgetown Univ., Holy Cross Hospital, the Goddard Space Flight Center, and Gallaudet Univ. Other work included the sculpture garden at the Hirschhorn Museum in Washington; projects for the Nail. Park Service; Miami Lakes, a new town in south Florida; and the embassy in Cairo. He was president of the Innisfree Foundation, which runs the Innisfree Gardens, a fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and a member of the Cosmos Club and Century Assn,

All out sympathies go to Petronella and Oliver.

The Class of 1937