EDMONDSONS’ $1 MILLION GIFT WILL ENDOW E. FAY JONES CHAIR IN ARCHITECTURE AT UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — E. Fay Jones, the prize-winning architect and professor of architecture long associated with the University of Arkansas, has been honored with a $1 million endowed faculty chair being established in his name.

The pledge of $1 million to endow the chair was announced today by University of Arkansas alumnus Don Edmondson and his wife, Ellen, of Forrest City.

The pledge establishes the Don and Ellen Edmondson Endowment of the E. Fay Jones Chair in Architecture, which honors both E. Fay Jones and his wife, Mary Elizabeth "Gus" Jones. The chair will provide support for a full-time faculty member who is nationally respected in the field of architecture.

Presented the 1990 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal by Prince Charles of Great Britain for a lifetime of outstanding achievement, Jones was hailed as a "powerful and special genius who embodies nearly all the qualities we admire in an architect" and as an artist who used his vision to craft "mysterious and magical places" in Arkansas, the United States and the world.

A student of Frank Lloyd Wright and Bruce Goff, Jones went on to design such arresting structures as Pinecote Pavilion in Picayune, Miss.; Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs; and Chapman University Chapel in Orange, Calif.

"We are grateful to Don and Ellen Edmondson for their generous initiative to celebrate a revered teacher and practitioner acknowledged as one of the leading American architects of the last half of the 20^th century," said UA Chancellor John A. White.

"The E. Fay Jones Chair established by the Edmondsons is the second endowed chair to be established in the UA School of Architecture in less than a year," White added. "Along with the Steven L. Anderson Chair in Architecture and Urban Studies, established by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation last summer, the E. Fay Jones Chair lends heightened visibility to the School of Architecture and positions it for leadership on a regional and even national scale."

School of Architecture Dean Daniel D. Bennett said, "Don and Ellen Edmondsons’ commitment to endow a chair to honor former dean and renowned architect E. Fay Jones is a wonderful gesture to Fay, his work and the contributions he has made to architectural education at the University of Arkansas.

"The endowment will allow us to attract nationally respected architects and teachers to the School of Architecture to work with our students and faculty and presents an opportunity to enhance and build upon the educational experience for all associated with the School," Bennett added. "The endowment ensures that Fay's legacy will forever be appropriately recognized and appreciated."

In addition, the endowment will help promote the contributions of Jones through the discipline of architecture and advance cultural attitudes toward design quality. For example, the endowment will establish an archive of slides and photographs of Jones’ work. The collection -- envisioned as the primary reference source regarding Jones’ architecture and built work--will be available to scholars and students from across the United States.

Jones has had a long and distinguished professional career that combined teaching and practice. He received his bachelor of architecture from the University of Arkansas in 1950 and his master of architecture from Rice University in 1951. He taught at the University of Oklahoma and had a long tenure at the University of Arkansas as a design professor, chairperson of the department from 1966-1974 and dean from 1974-1976. He currently is professor emeritus.

In addition to receiving numerous national design awards and accolades, Jones received the Tau Sigma Delta Gold Medal for distinction in architectural design and the profession's highest honor, the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal. In recognition of his "sustained creative achievement in the advancement of architectural education," the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture bestowed on him the title of ACSA Distinguished Professor.

It was during his time at the University that he first met Don Edmondson. Jones was one of the instructors in an arts appreciation course taken by Edmondson in 1954. Edmondson was immediately taken with the quality and beauty of Jones' work, and the unassuming manner of Jones himself. That was the beginning of a personal and professional relationship that has lasted 45 years, during which time Jones designed the Edmondsons’ house.

"He has been such an influence in my life," Don Edmondson said, "not just as an architect, but as a person. Both he and Gus are just wonderful people, and we're glad to be able to do this for them and the architecture department so they can carry on the philosophy of Fay and his work. The gift has a very personal meaning to us."

Don and Ellen Edmondson live in Forrest City. Don Edmondson has recently retired from his franchise businesses, which included Kentucky Fried Chicken, a Holiday Inn and Taco Bell. They have a daughter, Jennifer Edmondson.

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