Louis Edwin Gelwicks Jr. ’51

Lou was born Sept. 9, 1928, in Flushing N.Y., the son of Louis E. Gelwicks ’24.  

He came to Princeton from The Hill School, majored in architecture, belonged to Charter, played varsity baseball (pitcher), and roomed with Dick Frazier, George Garrett, and Steve Wood. Following graduation he was on active duty in the Naval Air Service for four years as a photo-intelligence officer. In later years he earned a graduate diploma in sociology from the University of Stockholm and a master’s in environmental design for the elderly from USC.

Lou established Gerontological Planning Associates in 1974 and during the next 30 years completed more than 75 master plans and 100 building programs and surveyed more than 400,000 older people to define their needs and market demands. Lou was the co-author of Planning Housing Environments for the Elderly with Robert Newcomer, and professor and head of the graduate program in urban planning at the Andrus Gerontology Center at USC.

Lou and Jeanne Hill were married June 11, 1955. He died July 10, 2009, of prostate cancer and Parkinson’s disease, and is survived by Jeanne; their children, Elizabeth Dietsch, James, and John; five grandchildren; and his sister, Joanne, widow of Dick Williams ’51.