Will died March 15, 2022, at home in Vancouver, Wash., surrounded by his partner Sylvia Skarstad and his two sons. He was a professor of urban studies and planning at Portland State University in Oregon and president of Macht & Co., a successful urban development company,
A native of Syracuse, N.Y., Will came to us from Deerfield Academy, where he graduated with honors, was on the editorial boards of the school paper and class yearbook, and was a member of the debating society and the squash and tennis teams. At Princeton, he majored in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, was associate editor of The Daily Princetonian, chairman of Response Magazine of the Creative Arts, and a resident officer of Charter Club.
Will graduated from the University of Virginia Law School in 1967. After working in government positions in Washington, he became international counsel for the Gates Corp. in Denver, then the development director of the Rouse Co. that was building the new city of Columbia, Md., between Washington and Baltimore, where his first son, Marlow, was born.
Several years later, Will and his wife, Marieluise Vogt Macht, moved to Hood River, Ore., where their younger son, Madison, was born. Sensing the potential for mixed-use development of Hood River’s extensive waterfront, Will was elected port commissioner and was involved in numerous land developments in the Hood River and Portland areas.
Throughout his 44-year career, Will also taught as a professor at both Portland State University’s College of Urban and Public Affairs and the University of Oregon School of Architecture. He published more than 200 articles in professional journals and books.
Will is survived by his partner, Sylvia Skarstad; his two sons, Marlow ’95 and Madison; his four grandchildren, Elijah, Aaron, Hazel, and Ruby; and his brother, John.