Obituary: Jerome Sincoff, former architecture dean, 91

Jerome J. Sincoff, a former dean of architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, died in hospice Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. He was 91.

Sincoff, who earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from WashU in 1956, spent most of his career with St. Louis-based HOK, rising from draftsman to design and production architect to president and CEO. He served as project executive for many large-scale developments, including the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

At WashU, Sincoff had served as the Ethan A.H. Shepley Trustee (1997-2001) and as chair of both the Alumni Board of Governors and the Architecture National Council. He also served as co-chair of the capital campaign for what would become the Sam Fox School, which united WashU’s nationally ranked programs in art and architecture with the renowned collection of the Kemper Art Museum.

“Jerry was a true leader,” said Cynthia Weese, who preceded Sincoff as architecture dean. “At HOK, he led the firm to great success — he always encouraged people and helped them achieve their goals. He was also one of our most important and positive alumni. He always started by asking ‘What can I do to help?’ And help he did!”

From 2005-06, Sincoff returned to campus full time as dean of architecture. It was a critical period that saw the Sam Fox School’s formal launch, the hiring of inaugural dean Carmon Colangelo, and the opening of two new buildings: the Kemper Art Museum and Walker Hall.

“Jerry Sincoff was an accomplished architect, a passionate leader and a steadfast advocate for students,” said Colangelo, the Ralph J. Nagel Dean and the E. Desmond Lee Professor for Collaboration in the Arts. “I was fortunate to be his colleague and to see him in action for the time we overlapped. His contributions to the school were simply extraordinary.”

Born and raised in St. Louis, Sincoff graduated from University City High School, where he was known for drawing buildings and rocket ships, in 1951. At WashU, he was influenced by the legendary Buckminster Fuller, then a visiting professor of architecture, and by Dean Joseph Passonneau, who arrived at the start of Sincoff’s senior year.

After graduation, Sincoff completed a tour of duty with the U.S. Army’s Air Defense Command. He joined HOK, then a small local firm, in 1962. In addition to the National Air and Space Museum, major projects with HOK would include Mobil Corp. headquarters in Fairfax, Va.; BP Corporate America headquarters in Cleveland; One Civic Center Plaza in Denver; and Bristol-Myers Squibb headquarters in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Major St. Louis-area projects included One Bell Corporate Center; the Nestle Purina headquarters; the Edward Jones building; and the early 1980s renovation of Union Station. In addition, Sincoff was the driving force behind the 1995 establishment of HOK University, which provides online courses to more than 1,600 HOK employees in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

A fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Sincoff was co-founder of the AIA’s Large-Firm Roundtable and the first architect elected chairman of the Construction Industry Round Table. He served on the research council of the National Academy of Sciences and was a member of the National Research Council’s Building Research Board.

A past president of the Saint Louis Art Museum’s board of commissioners, he led the architectural selection advisory committee for what became the museum’s East Building, a major addition ultimately designed by British architect David Chipperfield and completed in 2013.

WashU named Sincoff a distinguished architecture alumnus in 1997 and a distinguished university alumnus in 2004. He was awarded the architecture Dean’s Medal in 1999 and the Sam Fox School’s Dean’s Medal in 2010. He and his wife, Suzanne, were life members of the Willliam Greenleaf Eliot Society and provided a fund to support the Jerome J. and Suzanne M. Sincoff Endowed Scholarship.

Sincoff is survived by his wife, Suzanne Sincoff; children Julie Jampel, Robert Sincoff and Steven Sincoff; stepchildren Biron Valier and Jennifer Drury; grandchildren Henry Valier, Ethan Jampel, Johnny Valier, Emily Sincoff, Alex Sincoff, Miles Drury and Lucas Drury; step-granchildren Jacob Jampel and Sophie Jampel; and brother Theodore Sincoff.

A private graveside service was held Dec. 23 at United Hebrew Cemetery in University City. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions be made to the Saint Louis Art Museum, 1 Fine Arts Drive, St. Louis, MO 63110; or to Washington University and directed to Graduate Architecture Scholarships. Checks should be made payable to Washington University and set to: MSC 1082-414-2555, Washington University, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130-9989.