Alan G. Levy, architect and former professor at Penn’s Graduate School of Fine Arts (now known as PennDesign), died on January 24 due to heart failure. He was 85 years old.

Mr. Levy grew up in South Philadelphia and graduated first in his class from South Philadelphia High School for Boys in 1950. He attended the University of Pennsylvania on a full scholarship, and enrolled in the architecture program. Following graduation in 1955, he served in the Army until 1957.

After his service, Mr. Levy worked for a number of architecture and urban design firms in Philadelphia, including the offices of Vincent Kling and Louis Kahn. While in Kahn’s office he worked on the Salk Institute in La Jolla, CA, and government buildings in Bangladesh.

Mr. Levy partnered with John Murphy and Richard Saul Wurman to form Murphy Levy Wurman Architects and Urban Planners in 1963. Their projects included Penn’s Landing; private homes in Long Beach Island, NJ; and urban renewal plans for Society Hill, Queen Village and parts of University City. The office was deeply committed to serving local communities and highly involved in bringing environmental education and architecture to the public schools. In 1993, Mr. Levy partnered with Adèle Naudé Santos to form Santos Levy & Assoc. They worked on an office building in Tokyo, a redevelopment plan for Camden, NJ, a natatorium for Albright College; Yerba Buena community center in San Francisco and prepared campus plans for Penn, Temple and Drexel.

Mr. Levy had taught at Penn part-time until 1967. In 1972, he returned to teaching at Penn and continued until his retirement in 1997. He served as chair of the department of architecture in 1987. He enjoyed teaching design, construction and detailing. In 1981, he brought his community-related design work from his practice into the University creating the GSFA-based Center for Environmental Design and Planning, which developed Penn’s Campus Master Plan (Almanac May 17, 1988) and served numerous Philadelphia neighborhoods.

In 2006, he won the AIA John Frederick Harbeson Award from the American Institute of Architects, Philadelphia Chapter.

He is predeceased by his sons, Andrew E. and Paul A., and survived by his wife of 63 years, Barbara, Ed’54, daughter Anne Levy Pugh, CAS’84 (Marlon Pugh), and grandchildren, Maxwell and Anisa Pugh.

Memorial donations may be made in Mr. Levy’s name to the PennDesign Annual Fund, providing fellowships and financial aid to current students.Visit www.design.upenn.edu/support/penndesign-annual-fund