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Francis Fleetwood, well known for the homes he designed for famous clients on the East End, died on May 8. The East Hampton architect was 68 and died of a blood clot after a long flight from South America.
Mr. Fleetwood designed more than 200 unique shingle style houses, reminiscent of the designs in the early 20th century, but adapted to meet present needs and lifestyles. In the 1980s and 1990s, he forever changed the way people think about resort housing, and the modern shingle style he pioneered became a well emulated standard. In 2001, Forbes Magazine had named Francis Fleetwood as one of the top 10 architects in the country along with Philip Johnson, Richard Meier, Cesar Pelli and Robert A.M. Stern.
When Mr. Fleetwood first started his practice, modern architecture held sway over wealthy second-home clients, but he was, nevertheless, drawn to the traditional styles of Stanford White. His client list included Alec Baldwin, Lauren Bacall, Ann Eisenhower, Calvin Klein, Paul McCartney, George Stephanopoulos and top executives in finance. His work, widely copied in wealthy resort coastal communities around the world, has been featured in Architectural Digest. Many of the homes he designed have sold for between $20 million and $40 million and were at times the highest-priced homes in the United States.
A 1970 graduate of Bard College, he once bragged to his college alumni bulletin that as a student, he tried to fan any embers of unrest he could find on campus. “I was a Marxist back then, and we would hold secret meetings every week, planning the overthrow of the school, the government, the world,” he is reported as saying.
He earned a master’s degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
More recently, he said he found himself “in an amazing place and an amazing position at an amazing time,” survivors said.
Born June 17, 1946, in Santiago, Chile, he came to New York when he was a 1½-year-old with his mother and older brother on a boat called the Santa Maria.
He was the consummate adventurer, sensitive photographer, sailor and skier. The flight from South America after which he died was returning from a photo trek in Patagonia. He traveled to Butan, Northern India, Cuba, the Falkland islands, northern Chile and Myanmar.
He was also an accomplished para-glider and had taken over 200 para-gliding flights over mountains in Chile, Colombia, Austria and Utah.
Two years ago, flying over Medellin, Colombia, he got caught in a downdraft and fell 85 feet onto some rocks. Almost every bone in both legs was broken, requiring nine painful operations, and eventually he lost one leg. By last summer he was on the road to recovery.
With an artificial leg, he and his brother, Blake, sailed his new sailboat from Charleston, South Carolina, to the Devon Yacht Club in Amagansett across open ocean. In October 2014 he sailed back to Charleston with a young crew of sailing instructors. Unfortunately, they ran into the edge of Hurricane Gonzolo with 15-foot swells off the coast of Hatteras. His two crew members, with no open ocean experience, were overcome with seasickness and had to go below. Mr. Fleetwood sailed singlehandedly through the 30-mph winds and waves.
He loved helicopter skiing and would regularly trek to British Columbia to follow his passion in the Canadian Rockies. He also skied the off-piste crevasses in La Grave-La Meije, France. Two months ago, he went to Cuba and planned to go back together with his brother to work on a book of photos.
After the trip to Patagonia, he returned to his home in Florida. He appeared healthy and happy, survivors said.
In addition to his brother, he is survived by his wife of 26 years, Stephanie Turner Fleetwood; daughter, Catherine Newsome of Georgia; and stepson, Michael Orhan of Oregon; his mother, Maria Freile of New York City; two sisters, Carmen Paul of New Jersey and Charlotte Fleetwood of Massachusetts; and three grandchildren.
There will be a memorial service this summer in East Hampton.
on May 21, 2015