Résumé

Architect, Victor Gruen Associates, Architecture / Planning / Engineering, Los Angeles, CA, 1961-1968. Following college, Park submitted many employment applications around Los Angeles, but none responded, save for the office of Victor Gruen. Gruen's office had gained the reputation for being a place where non-white and female designers and planners could get a start in the profession.

Vice-President, Gruen Associates, Architecture / Planning / Engineering, Los Angeles, CA, 1968-1981. Park became a Partner in the firm in 1972. Park's firm spent about 24 years (between about 1969 and 1993) working on the planning of the 17.3-mile Century Freeway (1-105) connecting LAX to Norwalk. This experience of building the last major Los Angeles freeway displaced over 20,000 residents, dislocating their lives and uprooting them from established neighborhoods, taught Park empathy, and to attempt to see issues from diverse perspectives. (See Duane Noriyuki, Los Angeles Times.com, "The Sunday Profile: One Man's Vision: As an architect, Ki Suh Park knows how to build dreams. But he has discovered that building a sense of community is much trickier. As an activist, he works not on new structures but on develpping and restoring common ground," published 06/026/1994, accessed 05/02/2023.)

Managing Partner / Chief Executive Officer, Gruen Associates, Architecture / Planning / Engineering,Los Angeles, CA, 1981- 2011.

Professional Activities

Member, American Institute of Architects (AIA), Los Angeles Chapter.

Member, AIA, California Council.

Member, American Planning Association, (APA), California Chapter.

Member, Rebuild L.A. (RLA), Los Angeles, CA. Park was heavily involved in rebuilding various Los Angeles neighborhoods following the Rodney King Riots of 1992. Six days of unrest resulted in the deaths of 63 people and 2,383 injured.

Member, University of Southern California (USC), Sol Price School of Public Policy, Board of Councilors, Los Angeles, CA, c. 2010.

Chair, University of Southern California (USC), Sol Price School of Public Policy, Master of Planning Advisory Board, Los Angeles, CA.

Professional Awards

Fellow, American Institute of Architects (FAIA), 1986. Park was the first Korean-American to receive Fellowship in the AIA.

Recipient, American Planning Association (APA), California Chapter, Distinguished Leadership Award, 1991.

Recipient, AIA, Whitney M. Young, Jr., Award, Los Angeles, CA, 1994. He received this award for his activity in urban planning and more specifically his work rebuilding Los Angeles following the large-scale riots of early-1990s.

Fellow, American Institute of Certified Planners (FAICP), College of Fellows, (inaugural class). 1999.

Recipient, AIA, California Council, Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Service, 1999.

College

Coursework, East Los Angeles Junior College, Los Angeles, CA, 1-and-1/2 years, 1953-1955.

B.A., University of California, Berkeley (UCB), Berkeley, CA, c. 1955-1957.

M.Arch., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, c. 1958-1960.

M.S., Urban Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, c. 1958-1960.

College Award

Recipient, scholarship, University of California, Berkeley (UCB), Berkeley, CA.

Named to Phi Beta Kappa, University of California, Berkeley (UCB), Berkeley, CA.

Relocation

Ki Suh Park was born in Seoul, South Korea. He lived here for six years before his parents relocated and he was left in the care of his grandparents. According to an extensive 1994 feature article on Park in the Los Angeles Times, "When Park was 6, his father, an agriculture researcher, and mother left Seoul to work in the country. They left Park, the second of nine children, with his grandparents so he could continue to attend city schools." His grandfather was the "first Western-educated doctor in Korea," who, by mid-century, had prospered, providing Ki Suh access to good housing, food and education. (See Duane Noriyuki, Los Angeles Times.com, "The Sunday Profile: One Man's Vision: As an architect, Ki Suh Park knows how to build dreams. But he has discovered that building a sense of community is much trickier. As an activist, he works not on new structures but on develpping and restoring common ground," published 06/026/1994, accessed 05/02/2023.)

Ki Suh fought in the Army of South Korea for much of the war. Amidst the rubble created by the war, he decided to become an architect to assist in the rebuilding of his country. To do this, he sought to travel to the US for an education. In early 1952, he wrote letters to various American newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times. It published his correspondence in 05/1952, where it was read by Muriel McClelland, then living in Montebello, CA. McClelland had just read James Michener's book Voice of Asia, and contacted the author soliciting his sponsorship of a Korean student. Michener did not want to give money to an individual, but had his foundation make funds for a scholarship available to the East Los Angeles Junior College, where Park planned to sfudy.

In addition, other benefactors stepped forward to pay for his education. They included a Korean War G.I. stationed in the city of Pusan, Korea, Jerry Rockwell, whose father was the well-known illustrator and painter Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), who also consented to assist. Rockwell recruited a friend, James A. Canfield, a former neighbor of Rockwell's in Bennington, VT, as well as Ralph Harvey (1901-1991), a Republican member of the US House of Representatives (representing Indiana's 10th District), who served between 1947 and 1958 and 1960 and 1966. These three provided money with which Park could meet his educational expenses. (See Duane Noriyuki, Los Angeles Times.com, "The Sunday Profile: One Man's Vision: As an architect, Ki Suh Park knows how to build dreams. But he has discovered that building a sense of community is much trickier. As an activist, he works not on new structures but on develpping and restoring common ground," published 06/026/1994, accessed 05/02/2023.)

Park came to the US on 03/01/1953, toward the end of the Korean War.

He had moved back to Los Angeles in 1961, and found a dwelling on Westmoreland Avenue, close to the urban core of the city.

Park gained permanent residence in the US on 03/22/1963 and became a United States citizen on 04/17/1968. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives at Riverside; Riverside, California; Petitions For Naturalization, U.s. District Court For the Central District of California (Los Angeles), 1940-1991; NAI Number: 594890; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: 21, accessed 05/02/2023.)

In 1968, he resided at 2081 Kerwood Avenue, in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. In 1994, he and his wife continued to live in Westwood, near to the UCLA campus. Between 1994 and 2013, he and his wife dwelled at 401 Comstock Avenue in Los Angeles.

The architect and urban planner died at age 80, following a extended battle with cancer. He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

Spouse

He wed Ildong Chey Park (born 10/03/1932 in Seoul, Korea) on 02/02/1957 in San Francisco, CA. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information Ancestry.com. California, U.S., Marriage Index, 1949-1959 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013, accessed 05/02/2023.)

She worked at the UCLA Medical School as a research associate for ten years. (See Duane Noriyuki, Los Angeles Times.com, "The Sunday Profile: One Man's Vision: As an architect, Ki Suh Park knows how to build dreams. But he has discovered that building a sense of community is much trickier. As an activist, he works not on new structures but on develpping and restoring common ground," published 06/026/1994, accessed 05/02/2023.)

Children

He and Ildong had three sons: David Park (born 1960 in CA), Kevin Park (born c. 1967 in Los Angeles, CA), and Edwin Park (born 1972 in Los Angeles, CA). All children, like their parents excelled academically. David studied as an undergraduate at UCLA and the Boston College Law School. Kevin matriculated at Harvard University, then attended the University of Oxford, and graduated from the Harvard University Medical School in 1994. The youngest Edwin, enrolled as an undergraduate in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Administration and International Affairs at Princeton University, and later attended Harvard Law School. (See Duane Noriyuki, Los Angeles Times.com, "The Sunday Profile: One Man's Vision: As an architect, Ki Suh Park knows how to build dreams. But he has discovered that building a sense of community is much trickier. As an activist, he works not on new structures but on develpping and restoring common ground," published 06/026/1994, accessed 05/02/2023.)

Biographical Notes

SSN: 553-48-4990.