USC Honors Two Alumni Architects

Architects Arthur F. O’Leary and Toshikazu Terasawa will be honored as the 1992 Distinguished Alumni of the USC School of Architecture at the annual dinner of the USC Architectural Guild on April 14.

Contributions of the 40-year partnership of O’Leary and Terasawa are being recognized as “significant to architectural and civic enhancements in Los Angeles,” said guild president Michael O’Sullivan. Dean of the School of Architecture Robert Harris lauded the pair for being citizen-architects and “providing a model for all professionals.”

Co-founder and now consultant to the Los Angeles architectural firm of O’Leary Terasawa Partners, O’Leary is a 1951 graduate of the USC School of Architecture and served as a professional practice lecturer at the school for 10 years.

He is noted as an authority in forensic architecture, which deals with the legal ramifications of architectural practice and construction. He has served as arbitrator in more than 130 cases and has consulted in more than 300 construction industry disputes since 1958. His numerous writings in the field include a recently published work, Construction Administration in Architectural Practice.

A Los Angeles native and 1949 graduate of the USC School of Architecture, Terasawa joined the O’Leary firm in 1949 and became a partner in 1953. He was voted 1987 Man of the Year by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce’s Construction Industries Committee, and served for 18 years as the only architect commissioner of the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, including four terms as president. He also played an important role in Little Tokyo’s master-planning.

He currently serves as president of the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, has had a 24-year leadership role in the Los Angeles-Nagoya Sister City Affiliation program and was director of Goodwill Industries of Southern California for 29 years.

Reservations for the guild dinner can be made by calling Roberta Ohno at (213) 740-4471.