Written by Peggy Deamer and Quilian Riano
The Architecture Lobby mourns the loss of Bill Menking, who was an early supporter of the Lobby and eventually the first Chair of its Board. Bill was fundamental to every aspect of the Lobby’s success. He generously opened his home freely for meetings and fundraisers while also connecting us to his extensive and impressive network; he made sure that we thought big; he put his own body on the line in protests for architectural worker justice; his mere willingness to chair the board gave spiritual support when it was most needed. But more than this, as a child of the 60’s, he felt the cause of workers’ justice in his bones. In this, his extraordinary knowledge about 60’s radical architectural groups was not merely academic; it was political and personal.
The Lobby recognizes that its loss, while huge, is small in comparison to that of the larger architecture community that he believed in, studied, wrote about, and fought for.
We all already feel the gap of his passing.