Norma Merrick Sklarek, one of the first female African-American licensed architects in the United States, whose projects extended from the award-winning American Embassy in Tokyo to Terminal One at the Los Angeles Airport, died of heart failure at her home in Pacific Palisades on February 6. She was 85. The only child of West Indian parents, Sklarek was born in Harlem on April 15, 1926. She was fortunate to have attended highly rated public schools, including Hunter High, which only accepted students with outstanding math and English scores. Sklarek, who credited her father for encouraging her interest in a traditionally male profession, pursued architecture because ‘it seemed to embody math and art,’ she recalled in a Palisadian-Post interview in 2004. A subway student, Sklarek commuted to Columbia University’s School of Architecture from her home in Brooklyn and graduated, one of two women, in 1950. While in school, she was shielded from the bleak reality for women and African Americans in architecture firms. However, her stellar success on the licensing exams yielded an offer in 1955 from Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, one of the leading architectural and engineering firms in the United States. With her move to Los Angeles in 1960, Sklarek joined Gruen Associates, where she became the director of architecture’another milestone. At Gruen, she was responsible for the technical and functioning aspects of the San Bernardino City Hall (1973) the Pacific Design Center (1976) and the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo (1976). During this period, she married fellow Gruen architect Rolf Sklarek, a German Jew and graduate of the Bauhaus, who had been imprisoned under Hitler. Rolf designed the Rustic Canyon home the couple shared until his death in 1985. She later married Dr. Cornelius Welch. Among Sklarek’s larger projects, Terminal One at LAX was completed just in time for the 1984 Olympics. ’At first, the architects working on the airport were skeptical because a female was in charge of the project,’ she recalled. ‘But a number of projects were going on there at the time and mine was the only one on schedule.’ ’You didn’t joke around with Norma,’ Roland Wiley told the Los Angeles Times. Wiley, who was hired by Sklarek and now runs his own architectural firm downtown, added, ‘She was the one who got the job done, on time and with excellence, and who then went home at 5:30 to pursue her other interests.’ In 1980, Sklarek moved to Welton Becket as project manager for the $50 million LAX terminal, but left after five years to form her own firm. The firm Siegel-Sklarek-Diamond was short-lived. ‘It’s tough for women to get the projects, and clients are used to working with men,’ she said. From 1989 to 1991, Sklarek was a principal at The Jerde Partnership (Horton Plaza in San Diego), in charge of project management. Sklarek is survived by her son David Merrick Fairweather, husband Dr. Cornelius Welch and three grandchildren. A son from a previous marriage, Gregory Merrick Ranson, died in 2006. Every spring, Sklarek hosted a garden party when her collection of 200 epiphyllum orchids bloomed. Her husband is planning ‘Norma’s last epiphyllum party’ to celebrate her life, according to the Times.
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