The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts is saddened to note the passing of former member Harry G. Robinson III, FAIA. He served on the Commission from 1994 to 2003, serving as vice chair beginning in 1995 and elected its chair in 2002. In his leadership role at the Commission, Robinson was heavily involved in the review of many significant projects, including the World War II Memorial, security improvements and a visitor center for the Washington Monument, the Air Force Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, and the National Museum of the American Indian of the Smithsonian Institution.
Robinson had a long career in architectural education, beginning at Morgan State University and the University of the District of Columbia, and culminating in many decades at Howard University, where he served as professor of urban design and dean emeritus of the School of Architecture and Design. He also served as vice president for academic affairs and vice president for administration at Howard, where he coauthored a history of the university campus, The Long Walk, with current CFA Vice Chair Hazel Edwards. In addition to his academic work, he co-founded TRG Consulting, an interdisciplinary design practice, where he worked as consulting executive architect to the American Battle Monuments Commission.
He was president of two national architectural organizations: the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (1992) and the National Architectural Accrediting Board (1996). Robinson had served as director of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund; as a member of the Committee for the Preservation of the White House; chairman of the UNESCO International Commission for the Goree Memorial and Museum, Dakar, Senegal; secretary and trustee of the National Building Museum; and trustee of the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. Among his many honors and awards were the American Institute of Architects 1990 Whitney M. Young Jr. Award and the 2003 Centennial Medal by the Washington, D.C., chapter of the AIA. He was the recipient of the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart Medals, awarded during his Army service in Vietnam.
Robinson received both a bachelor of architecture and a master in city planning from Howard University and a master in city planning in urban design from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, which honored him with its Alumni Award in 2024.