Saunders Schultz, resident of Olivette, died Monday the 17th of July. Born in 1927, Saunders earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Washington University, and a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Illinois. He was an internationally acclaimed sculptor, as well as an artist, and visionary. Mr. Schultz was one of the founders of the concept of Architectural/Environmental Sculpture. He was also a wonderful husband and father. 

In 1960, Saunders founded the sculpture studio “Scopia.” He created and installed 298 pieces during his 75-year career, ranging in size from one to twenty-seven stories tall. They can be found in 37 States, and various parts of the world, including, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and Moscow. Each piece was created to relate to its architectural and natural surroundings.  

Schultz has collaborated on projects with many of the world’s leading architects and landscape architects, including Eero Saarinen, Eric Mendelsohn, Minoru Yamasaki, Philip Johnson, Paul Friedberg, Hideo Sasaki, EDAW, Mitchel/Giurgola, RTKL, Ellerbe Becket, Arthur Gensler, Arthur Odell, Jr., Johnson, Johnson & Roy, Edward D. Stone, Jr., Thomas Ventullett lll, Noland Blass, SOM and Theodore J. Wofford.  

ln addition to his pioneering work in architectural/environmental sculpture, he has offered classes and symposia at a variety of universities and institutions, including Harvard and Columbia, the National Conference on Art in Public Places, Clemson Architectural Foundation, the American Society of Landscape Architects, American Institute of Architects Research Foundation, American Institute of Interior Designers and the American Planning Association. His involvement with socially conscious and visionary projects is well known. 

Selected awards: the Carnegie Institute Achievement Award; First prize at the Invitational Competition, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay; “Finite/Infinite,” first public art project awarded by Civilian Facilities Administration (forerunner of HUD). Later selected by jury from 1700 international entries for publication in HUD’s National Community Arts Program; The Florida AIA Award for Excellence; first prize, Highland Garden, Broward County Florida Housing Authority, HUD Invitational Competition; First prize, National Competition for the Washington Hebrew Congregation in Washington, D.C. (jurors included Douglas Lewis, Curator of Sculpture, National Gallery of Art, and David Lloyd Kroeger, President, Board of Trustees, Corcoran Gallery of Art); first prize, International Competition, E.A. Juffali Headquarters, Jedda, Saudi Arabia; Corporate Guidelines Arts Consultant, national invitational competition for the Salt River Project, Tempe, Arizona (Hideo Sadaki, Jon Jerde and Arthur Gensler were the other participants); first to receive “percent-for-art-awards”in Atlanta, GA, Little Rock, AR, St. Louis, Mo, Pompano Beach and Miami, FL.

Mr. Schultz’ work has been featured in numerous national publications, including ART News, Architectural Record, Progressive Architecture, Architecture Forum and AIA Architect. It also has appeared in U.S. News & World Report, Washington Post, Washington Times and St. Louis Post-Dispatch, among other newspapers. 

Saunders is survived by his son Neil, and his wife Karen, his daughter Lisa, and her wife Veronica Slade, and his nephew Keith Kaplan, and his wife Judy. He is predeceased by his parents, Abe and Rose Schultz, his sister Sylvia (Louis) Kaplan, and, recently, by his beloved wife Joan.

Visitation will be at 1:30 PM on Thursday, July 20th at BERGER MEMORIAL CHAPEL, 9430 Olive Boulevard. Funeral service follows at 2:00 PM. Interment at Beth Hamedrosh Hagodol Cemetery, 9125 Ladue Road. Memorial contributions preferred to The Missouri Nature Conservancy. Please visit bergermemorialchapel.com for more information.