We heard this morning that Fred Schwartz—one of the most independent, passionate, and even fearless voices in the New York architecture world—passed away last night. Frederic Schwartz Architects was well known for its waterfront park planning and various 9/11 memorials (Fred died at 9:11p.m. last night).

Schwartz was the founder of the THINK Team (with Rafael Viñoly, Shigeru Ban, Ken Smith, David Rockwell, William Morrish, Janet Marie Smith, ARUP, Buro Happold and Jorge Schlaich) that presented one of the most creative master plans and designs for what might have been at the World Trade Center site.

Everyone that knew Fred knows how passionate he was for New York City (he was raised in Plainview, Long Island not far from Levittown). His architectural practice was firmly rooted in the dynamism and diversity of the city.

Schwartz was a proud 1973 graduate of Berkeley and, in 1978, of Harvard. He taught design at Harvard, Yale, Penn, Columbia, Berkeley, and Princeton and was the co-author of essays on architecture.

His voice and presence in the New York architecture world will be greatly missed. AN will publish a more detailed obituary of Schwartz in an upcoming print edition of the paper.