Frank Gehry, the most celebrated architect of his time, dies at 96

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Frank Gehry, who designed some of the most imaginative buildings ever constructed and achieved a level of worldwide acclaim seldom afforded any architect, has died. He was 96.

Gehry died Friday in his home in Santa Monica after a brief respiratory illness, said Meaghan Lloyd, chief of staff at Gehry Partners LLP.

Gehry's fascination with modern pop art led to the creation of distinctive, striking buildings. Among his many masterpieces are the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; The Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and Berlin’s DZ Bank Building.

He also designed an expansion of Facebook’s Northern California headquarters at the insistence of the company’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.

Gehry was awarded every major prize architecture has to offer, including the field’s top honor, the Pritzker Prize, for what has been described as “refreshingly original and totally American” work.

Other honors include the Royal Institute of British Architects gold medal, the Americans for the Arts lifetime achievement award, and his native country’s highest honor, the Companion of the Order of Canada.

After earning a degree in architecture from the University of Southern California in 1954 and serving in the Army, Gehry studied urban planning at Harvard University.

But his career got off to a slow start. He struggled for years to make ends meet, designing public housing projects, shopping centers and even driving a delivery truck for a time.

Eventually, he got the chance to design a modern shopping mall overlooking the Santa Monica Pier. He was determined to play it safe and came up with drawings for an enclosed shopping mall that looked similar to others in the United States in the 1980s.

To celebrate its completion, the mall’s developer dropped by Gehry’s house and was stunned by what he saw: The architect had transformed a modest 1920s-era bungalow into an inventive abode by remodeling it with chain-link fencing, exposed wood and corrugated metal.

Asked why he hadn’t proposed something similar for the mall, Gehry replied, “Because I have to make a living.”

If he really wanted to make a statement as an architect, he was told, he should drop that attitude and follow his creative vision.

Gehry would do just that for the rest of his life, working into his 90s to create buildings that doubled as stunning works of art.

As his acclaim grew, Gehry Partners LLP, the architectural firm he founded in 1962, grew with it, expanding to include more than 130 employees at one point. But as big as it got, Gehry insisted on personally overseeing every project it took on.

The headquarters of the InterActiveCorp, known as the IAC Building, took the shape of a shimmering beehive when it was completed in New York City’s Chelsea district in 2007. The 76-story New York By Gehry building, once one of the world’s tallest residential structures, was a stunning addition to the lower Manhattan skyline when it opened in 2011.

That same year, Gehry joined the faculty of his alma mater, the University of Southern California, as a professor of architecture. He also taught at Yale and Columbia University.

Not everyone was a fan of Gehry’s work. Some naysayers dismissed it as not much more than gigantic, lopsided reincarnations of the little scrap-wood cities he said he spent hours building when he was growing up in the mining town of Timmins, Ontario.

Princeton art critic Hal Foster dismissed many of his later efforts as “oppressive,” arguing they were designed primarily to be tourist attractions. Some denounced the Disney Hall as looking like a collection of cardboard boxes that had been left out in the rain.

Still other critics included Dwight D. Eisenhower’s family, who objected to Gehry’s bold proposal for a memorial to honor the nation’s 34th president. Although the family said it wanted a simple memorial and not the one Gehry had proposed, with its multiple statues and billowing metal tapestries depicting Eisenhower’s life, the architect declined to change his design significantly.

If the words of his critics annoyed Gehry, he rarely let on. Indeed, he even sometimes played along. He appeared as himself in a 2005 episode of “The Simpsons” cartoon show, in which he agreed to design a concert hall that was later converted into a prison.

He came up with the idea for the design, which looked a lot like the Disney Hall, after crumpling Marge Simpson’s letter to him and throwing it on the ground. After taking a look at it, he declared, “Frank Gehry, you’ve done it again!”

“Some people think I actually do that,” he would later tell the AP.

Ephraim Owen Goldberg was born in Toronto on Feb. 28, 1929, and moved to Los Angeles with his family in 1947, eventually becoming a U.S. citizen. As an adult, he changed his name at the suggestion of his first wife, who told him antisemitism might be holding back his career.

Although he had enjoyed drawing and building model cities as a child, Gehry said it wasn’t until he was 20 that he pondered the possibility of pursuing a career in architecture, after a college ceramics teacher recognized his talent.

“It was like the first thing in my life that I’d done well in,” he said.

Gehry steadfastly denied being an artist though.

“Yes, architects in the past have been both sculptors and architects,” he declared in a 2006 interview with The Associated Press. “But I still think I’m doing buildings, and it’s different from what they do.”

His words reflected both a lifelong shyness and an insecurity that stayed with Gehry long after he’d been declared the greatest architect of his time.

“I’m totally flabbergasted that I got to where I’ve gotten,” he told the AP in 2001. “Now it seems inevitable, but at the time it seemed very problematic.”

The Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum in Abu Dhabi, first proposed in 2006, is expected to finally be completed in 2026 after a series of construction delays and sporadic work. The 30,000-square-foot (2,787-square-meter) structure will be the world's largest Guggenheim, leaving a lasting legacy in the capital city of the United Arab Emirates.

His survivors include his wife, Berta; daughter, Brina; sons Alejandro and Samuel; and the buildings he created.

Another daughter, Leslie Gehry Brenner, died of cancer in 2008.

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Rogers, the principal writer of this obituary, retired from The Associated Press in 2021.

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Reporter Jaimie Ding contributed from Los Angeles.

FILE - This Oct. 20, 2003 file photo shows early morning sun illuminating the new Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, file)

FILE - Athletic Bilbao fans wait in front of the Guggenheim museum as support boats pass before team celebrations on the Nervion Estuary in Bilbao, Spain, Thursday, April 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos, File)

FILE - Honoree and Walt Disney Concert Hall architect Frank Gehry poses at the 2023 Los Angeles Philharmonic Gala, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023, at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

FILE - The Louis Vuitton Foundation building designed by American architect Frank Gehry is pictured before the presentation of Louis Vuitton's Spring/Summer 2015 ready-to-wear fashion collection in Paris, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

FILE - Architect Frank Gehry describes his concert hall design at the Colburn School during an unveiling in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

The Dallas defense regressed, as did the protection for quarterback Dak Prescott, in a game the Cowboys badly needed to win to maintain any realistic hopes of making the playoffs.

In a 44-30 loss to the Detroit Lions, owner Jerry Jones' team looked much more like the one with a losing record from before the open week than the group that had won three in a row since to get over .500 for the first time.

Pretty much the only hope for the Cowboys (6-6-1) now is to win their four remaining games, starting in prime time on Dec. 14 at home against Minnesota. Even then, they will need help. That's why the NFL's playoff odds for Dallas are at 8%.

“I, too, knew what was at stake about our odds of getting in the playoffs,” Jones said on his radio show Friday on 105.3 The Fan. “So can we literally win out? Of course we can win out. Is it going to be hard? Double of course it is, to win out. We’ve got to look at the very narrow chance that if we get out here and play better than we played last night, yeah, we can be still playing when playoff time comes.”

The Cowboys couldn't get stops when they needed them, letting the Lions score touchdowns on short fields caused by poor kickoff return coverage twice in the fourth quarter after Dallas had made it a one-score game.

Prescott was sacked a season high-tying five times and threw two interceptions, including one on the first play of the second half that the Lions converted into a touchdown for a 27-9 lead.

The star quarterback was pressured into a throw that went backward, resulting in a 16-yard loss.

Twice in the first half, the Cowboys faced second-and-25 or longer, which is part of the reason they settled for three field goals before the break. Dallas converted just one of three trips inside the 20-yard line into touchdowns.

Now the Cowboys don't know when they'll get CeeDee Lamb back. The star receiver hit his helmet hard on the turf on a leaping attempt at a catch and was quickly ruled out with a concussion.

Having to move on without Lamb would be another downer coming off a loss that will challenge the players to stay engaged. Dallas had won each game since the trade for Quinnen Williams that sparked a struggling defense.

“I don’t think this is any deflated moment, ‘Oh, hands are up, we’re done,’” Prescott said. “This is the first time this group, to an extent, suffered this. We use it as fuel.”

The legend of kicker Brandon Aubrey grows. He's the first in NFL history with three field goals of at least 55 yards in a game, including a 63-yarder. Aubrey's three of at least 60 yards this year are the most in a season in league history. The 30-year-old extended his record with the sixth of at least 60 yards in his three-year career. Oh, and Aubrey tied his career high with five field goals against the Lions. The only one he came close to missing was the shortest, from 42.

The kickoff coverage had already been less-than-stellar when the Cowboys allowed returns to the Detroit 41-yard line and 49 in the fourth quarter. The first return came with Dallas down three, the second when the deficit was seven with 3:42 remaining. The Lions converted both long returns by Tom Kennedy for touchdowns. Kennedy averaged 40 yards on three kickoff returns.

WR Ryan Flournoy had career highs with nine catches for 115 yards in the second 100-yard game for the second-year player. The first came in October. Two of his catches converted third downs, and several were contested before he ran free on a 42-yard touchdown that pulled the Cowboys within 30-27 early in the fourth quarter.

WR George Pickens was conspicuously on the sideline during the drive that ended with Flournoy's touchdown. He was already without Lamb and didn't seem to be engaged with some of his route-running. Such moments are more noticeable given some of Pickens' antics during three years in Pittsburgh before the Steelers traded him in the offseason.

Lamb's status will be the biggest question with three extra days between games. ... CB Trevon Diggs was close to returning against Detroit. His seven-game absence for a concussion and knee discomfort could end against the Vikings. ... Jerry Jones said he thought LT Tyler Guyton would return after missing two games with a sprained ankle. Nate Thomas struggled in Guyton's absence against the Lions.

Minus-8 — The turnover margin for the Cowboys after three turnovers without a takeaway against the Lions. Among the seven teams currently with a turnover margin of minus-5 or worse, Dallas is the only one that doesn't have a losing record. It seems unlikely Dallas can finish 4-0 without improvement in this area.

After playing four games in 18 days, the Cowboys aren't finished with goofy schedules. They go Sunday-to-Sunday for the first time since Week 8 with games against the Vikings and the Los Angeles Chargers (Dec. 21). Dallas' fourth Thursday game of the season is on Christmas at Washington before the regular-season finale at the New York Giants, which could be on a Saturday.

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Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Ceedee Lamb is tended to by trainers during the second half of an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Ryan Flournoy runs the ball in after catching a touchdown pass against the Detroit Lions during the second half of an NFL football game Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, left, talks with Detroit Lions owner Martha Ford prior to an NFL football game Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery (5) runs after making a catch as Dallas Cowboys safety Donovan Wilson (6) tries to stop him during the second half of an NFL football game Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, left, tries to hold on to the ball as Detroit Lions defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad (96) makes a hit during the second half of an NFL football game Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)