John Paul Meyer, December 11, 2019

from The Boston Globe, Dec. 16-17, 2019.

Late of Charlestown, MA, passed away peacefully in the early hours of December 11th, after a long battle with frontotemporal dementia.

John was born in 1946 in New York City, and later graduated from Yale University, and Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture. He enjoyed a distinguished career as an architect in New York at Meyer & Gifford Architects, which he co-founded with Charles Gifford.

John served passionately at Voyageur Outward Bound, Thompson Island Outward Bound, and Sanctuary for Families. After moving to Boston in 2010, he volunteered for Boston Partners in Education and became a devoted mentor for high school students at the Boston Community Leadership Academy.<

John’s family and many friends knew him as a gentle, kind, soft-spoken, elegant, and gracious man. But his gentle nature belied his strength and skill on the ski slopes, biking through Europe, and hiking and portaging in Montana and the Boundary Waters.

John also delighted in the arts: roaming museum galleries, attending musical performances, and spending hours with his watercolors. He loved cinema and literature and was an expert in the Subway Fold of his beloved New York Times.

John was a loyal and attentive friend, a proud father and grandfather, and a beloved husband. He is survived by his wife Jo Frances, his daughter Jessica Daws and her husband Matthew; his son, Sebastian Meyerand his wife Jessica; his daughter Amelia Meyer and her husband Chad; grandchildren Peter, Pippa, Alice, and Isaac; stepdaughters Elizabeth Peet and her husband Jack, and Jacquelyn Bihrle and her husband Will. John was predeceased by his former wife, Joanna Anderson.

A Celebration of John’s Life will be announced at a later date. Contributions in John’s memory may be made to Boston Partners in Education or Thompson Island Outward Bound.

There was also a lovely story about John’s marriage to his second wife, Jo Frances Kaplan, that appeared in the NY Times in 2005.  https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/10/fashion/jo-frances-kaplan-and-john-meyer.html