Architect Owen C. McCorkle Dies at 68 : Obituary: Long illness claims Fullerton, Cypress and El Camino colleges designer. No funeral is planned.

Owen C. McCorkle, a former Newport Beach architect who designed Fullerton College and the Federal Building in Santa Ana among other structures, died last Saturday at a hospital in Palm Springs after a four-year battle with supranuclear palsy, a disease that causes deterioration of the muscles. He was 68.

McCorkle died about 5 a.m. at the Palm Springs Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a day after contracting pneumonia, his ex-wife, Edith McCorkle Toor, said.

McCorkle spent 28 years working on about 200 projects in Southern California and Nevada, from the Irvine Regional Park to the Marriott Hotel in Newport Beach. He also designed many area high schools and colleges, including Fullerton, Cypress and El Camino colleges, as well as Pacifica High School in Garden Grove.

“He had a signature in the business,” said Toor, who was married to McCorkle from 1973 to 1984.

The architect was described by Toor and colleagues as an articulate and bright man with a wonderful smile.

Born in Omaha in 1926, McCorkle grew up with a keen interest in drawing, Toor said. He graduated in 1953 from UC Berkeley with a degree in architecture. In 1981, he formed his own firm, called Owen C. McCorkle, AIA Inc.

McCorkle is survived by his children, Lisamarie McCorkle Pennington of Petaluma, Calif.; William Mitchell McCorkle of Palm Springs; and Douglas, Thomas, Andrew, Bruce and Scott McCorkle, all of Santa Rosa. He is also survived by a brother, Dean McCorkle of Bakersfield, and four grandchildren.

No funeral services are planned.

The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in his memory to the Palm Springs Desert Museum Building Fund, Museum Way, Palm Springs, CA 92262.