Frederic Schwartz

Schwartz died of prostate cancer on April 28, 2014, less than a month after his 63rd birthday, in Manhattan, New York.

The New Jersey State September 11 memorial, Empty Sky, was dedicated on September 11, 2011, the tenth anniversary of the attacks. It stands in Liberty State Park, along the Hudson River, across from the site of Ground Zero. It was selected by unanimous vote of the Family and Survivors Memorial Committee, from 320 designs submitted.

Schwartz was well known as "an activist and a humanist whose architectural career has been dedicated to some of America's (and the world's) most visible waterfront projects." In addition to the $200 million Staten Island Ferry Terminal and Peter Minuit Park, he was the Project Director for Architecture and Planning of the four mile (6 km) long, 100-acre (0.40 km), $2.6 billion Westway State Park, the San Diego Harbor front Master Plan, the Singapore Harbor Master Plan, and the Master Plan for the Shanghai World Expo 2010 along four miles (6 km) of the Huangpu River." Schwartz's work has won him and his firm numerous national and international awards and design competitions, including the prestigious Rome Prize in Architecture.

In 2010, Schwartz appeared in the documentary Saving Lieb House, the story of the efforts of world-renowned architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown to save the house (called "an iconic pop-art creation" and a "masterpiece of abstract modern design") from its scheduled demolition." The twenty-five-minute film recounts how the home, built in the late 60s, was first slated for demolition by a developer who wanted to clear the area for new construction, but was ultimately saved by the dedication of a small group that was able to move it on a two-day journey by barge from Loveladies, New Jersey, to Long Island, New York.

Schwartz's love for New York drove his decision to locate his firm in SoHo, a neighborhood he "absolutely loves"—and where (in a 2008 interview) he said he could enjoy a view from his window that included the World Trade Center, the Woolworth Building, New York Harbor, the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building. His office is located in an open studio setting, where he can "teach and nurture," as well as manage. Still drawing with a pen, he has stated that a "good day" for him is one that ends up with "a lot of ink on my hands."

Schwartz called much of his work a "Robin Hood practice," taking profits from some of his more profitable work so that he could work on the projects he feels can really "help people." He credits much of his dedication to charitable work to his parents, who taught him, he says, "the lessons of giving and working hard." In a 2008 interview he stated that "My mother is 85 years old and she drives a half hour to read to someone who is blind. She is still helping people, and to me that is heroic."

The Westchester memorial, The Rising, was awarded the 2007 Faith and Form Sacred Landscape Award. The Interfaith Journal on Religion, Art, and Architecture describes the memorial as one that "invites families and visitors to look back in memory of their loved ones and look forward as a community," providing "a place for prayer and reflection."

A "gateway to the city," set against the backdrop of Manhattan's greatest buildings on one side and the river on the other, the design was created to imbue the terminal "with a strong sense of civic presence." In his remarks at the terminal's February 7, 2005, dedication, Mayor Michael Bloomberg stated that "You can walk into this spectacular terminal day or night and feel like you're part of the city ... (the terminal) is a continuation of what you feel on the ferry ... in a sense you are suspended over the water." Described as "an elegant addition to [the] city's architecture," a 2005 Newsday writer called it a transit hub that is so beautiful that it has become a "destination": with "the panorama of lower Manhattan from the top of the escalators, the vast windows framing the Statue of Liberty, the upstairs deck with views of the harbor -- these are reasons to take shelter here for a little longer than the ferry schedule makes strictly necessary."

A recipient of the prestigious Rome Prize in Architecture, Schwartz -- "for his dedication to using architecture to heal New York"—is included in the New York Hall of Fame, an organization created to "honor remarkable New Yorkers who have contributed to the betterment of the city" and who serve as "role models for children." He was honored by First Lady Laura Bush at the 2003 White House National Design Awards ceremony.

A graduate of Berkeley (A.B., Architecture, 1973) and Harvard (Master of Architecture, 1978), he taught architectural design at Harvard, Yale, Penn, Columbia and Princeton, and lectured extensively in America, Europe, China and India. As an undergraduate student he spent his junior year abroad studying at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England in 1971–1972. He is the author of three books on architecture. He was on the Advisory Board of Creative Cities, a group of architects with a stated mission of "putting culture and community at the heart of urban planning.

Frederic David Schwartz (April 1, 1951 – April 28, 2014) was an American architect, author, and city planner whose work includes Empty Sky, the New Jersey 9-11 Memorial, which was dedicated in Liberty State Park on September 11, 2011, the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.