Myron Shulman
Myron Shulman, an architect who designed houses that embraced the openness and light of the East End, died on Jan. 7 at his house on Sarah’s Lane in Amagansett of Parkinson’s disease. He was 72 and had been in declining health for 13 years.
Known to his friends as Bud, he was born in Newark to Murray Shulman and the former Augusta Charry on Feb. 17, 1937. Growing up in the Weequahic section of the city, he graduated from Weequahic High School, then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s School of Architecture.
He worked in Manhattan for a long time, with one of his favorite projects being Lincoln Square Synagogue, which opened in 1970.
During the mid-1970s, he moved to the East End and began designing houses, starting in Springs. Soon he was designing houses in Southampton and throughout East Hampton Town.
He met his future wife, Michelle Labbat, at that time.
“His architectural aesthetic included not only contemporary, but also traditional design,” Ms. Shulman wrote recently. “All of his homes were one of a kind and were noted for their incredible light.”
He built so many of the houses on Beverly Road in Springs that it was nicknamed “Bud’s Alley,” she said.
Speaking on the phone yesterday, Ms. Shulman said her husband was a hands-on architect, drawing each plan himself, never using a computer. “He was often at Riverhead Lumber, choosing each 2-by-4 plank of wood himself.”
The two were married in 1989.
In an e-mail, Mr. Shulman’s stepson, Marc Kenny, recalled Mr. Shulman’s fond love of intellectual discussion, whether the topic was history, art, or spirituality.
His wife said that he enjoyed talking about their born religions, hers being Catholicism, his being Judaism.
“Jesus was Jewish,” he liked to remind people.
He had a sense of humor, Mr. Kenny recalled. “He never met a corny joke he didn’t love.”
“He loved walking on the beach,” Ms. Shulman said. “He was very solitary. His true love was designing for his clients.”
But his mind was always on design aesthetics. Laughing, Ms. Shulman said that she would caution him when they went visiting friends by saying, “Please do not embarrass me by redesigning their house while they are there!”
“He’d never be late to the table when pancakes were being served,” Mr. Kenny said.
Besides his wife and Mr. Kenny, who lives in Pasadena, Calif., Mr. Shulman is survived by two sisters, Ellen Petty of Minneapolis, and Betty Jersperson of Farmington, Me., and three other stepchildren, Lisa Bass of Southampton, Stephen Kenny of East Hampton, and Bryan Kenny of Los Angeles.
A memorial service will be held in early summer at his house.
The family asks that memorial donations in his honor be made to East End Hospice, P.O. Box 1048, Westhampton Beach 11978, or to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Grand Central Station, P.O. Box 4777, New York 10163-4777.