Albert Dreyfuss, FAIA, passed away December 21st at the age of 97.
Our condolences to Al’s family and friends. He will be greatly missed.
Albert Dreyfuss was born in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1920 to a family of modest means. The precocious Albert started school at a very early age, graduating from high school at the age of 15. He started college at Tulane in New Orleans where there were only three people in the School of Architecture (and one was a girl!). He learned to fly in college, a lifelong source of great pleasure. During World War II he served in the submarine services, successfully learning to pilot the sub. He married Pearl Rayor in 1948 and moved to Sacramento shortly thereafter. In 1955, Al and his business partner Len Blackford landed a major project for their fledgling Sacramento firm, Dreyfuss & Blackford. The original SMUD Headquarters Building on S Street introduced post-war modernist design concepts to Sacramento. The much-awarded building features a Wayne Thiebaud mosaic mural, commissioned when Thiebaud was relatively unknown. Besides SMUD, D&B designed buildings for IBM, the former Sacramento Union newspaper, the original Nut Tree, the Mansion Inn, the Sacramento and San Francisco airports, and many others. The firm has received more than 100 awards for design excellence. Al was president of the American Association of Architects, California Council. Al Dreyfuss was dedicated to the Sacramento Jewish community, serving as president of Temple B’Nai Israel in the early 1960s. He was also an early and longtime supporter of the American River Parkway and led the effort to build the initial home of the Effie Yeaw Nature Preserve. In his retirement, he became a serious photographer, featured in various shows. Al was devoted to his family and friends. He is survived by his four children, Alan Rayor Dreyfuss of Emeryville, CA, Diane Lennox of Durham, NC, Annette Vasquez of Sacramento, and Eve Dreyfuss of Los Gatos, CA; and his four grandchildren: Erin Lennox, Genelle Chaconas, Adam Holmes and Jessie Holmes, and his longtime companion Gini Rountree and her family. Memorial services will be held Tuesday, December 26, 1:00pm at Temple B’nai Israel – 3600 Riverside Blvd., Sacramento. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking for donations to his beloved Effie Yeaw center. Arrangements under the care of Lombard Funeral Home.
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