Robert E. Coughlin, G’64, a former senior fellow in the department of city & regional planning at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design, died of heart failure at his home in Chestnut Hill on January 7. He was 88 years old.

Dr. Coughlin was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated from Roxbury Latin School, then earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, his master’s degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his doctorate in city & regional planning from the University of Pennsylvania.

He served in the US Navy before and after college and attained the rank of lieutenant junior grade.

From 1955 to 1961, he worked for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, playing a major role in preparing the city’s comprehensive plan. He was tasked with developing an analytic framework relating the city’s capital program and budget to the comprehensive plan.

From 1962 to 1980, he was vice president of the Philadelphia office of the Regional Science Research Institute. He directed research relating to regional and urban economic issues, and on the impact of urbanization on the environment, open-space preservation and farmland protection.

In 1981, Dr. Coughlin and John C. Keene, who is now professor emeritus of city & regional planning at Penn, founded Coughlin, Keene & Associates, a consulting firm in the field of planning and policy analysis. Dr. Coughlin led projects concerning analysis and evaluation of land-use regulations, farmland protection, urban sprawl and growth management. He also looked at tourism, population and economic projections, and served as an expert witness in zoning cases. He and Dr. Keene produced the seminal National Agricultural Lands Study: The Protection of Farmland—A Reference Guidebook for State and Local Governments.

From 1982 to 1993, Dr. Coughlin was a senior fellow in Penn’s department of city & regional planning, where he taught land-use analysis and land-use policy evaluation. Early in his time at Penn, he received an award from the University’s Research Foundation for a project with Ann L. Strong entitled Preparation of Graphic Illustrations for Publication of the Urban Vegetation Planning Study.

In 1986, he and Dr. Keene, along with two other colleagues formed a committee to help the victims of the earthquake that took place in El Salvador that October (Almanac November 11, 1986).

Dr. Coughlin is survived by his wife, Louisa Spottswood; two daughters, Nina Cook and Bess; one son, Ely; three grandchildren; a brother; and a sister.

Donations in his memory may be made to the North American Guild of Change Ringers, c/o Bruce Butler, 829 N. 25th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19130.