JEAN H. KUHN (1924-2006)

Kuhn was born in NJ and was raised in the Bronx. He fought with the 75th Infantry in the Battle of The Bulge during WWII, and was eventually medevacked out of theater due to severe frostbite on his feet. He ended up recovering at Camp Butner NC, where he met and married Elizabeth Dowd.

Once out of the Army, he used the GI Bill to go to the school of architecture at the University of Syracuse, then transferred to Yale, graduating with a degree in Architecture in 1950. He was taught by King-Lui Wu, Edward Stone, Eero Saarinen, Josef Albers, and Louis Kahn. He had a memorable dinner with Frank Lloyd Wright after Wright delivered a talk at Yale. Wright brought a group of students out to dinner and they all ordered beer, which was served to them in cans. Apparently Wright had never dealt with an unopened can of beer before, so Jean, a pro in such situations, took the opportunity to very meticulously teach Frank Lloyd Wright how to open a can of beer with a can opener.

Upon graduating, he began working as an architect in Summit NJ where he spent most of his career as a Principal in the Kuhn and Drake firm. He and his family had a beautiful Modernist home in Chatham NJ with a gorgeous view of the New York skyline. He went solo in the late 1970s before retiring in 1988 to Riverbend NC.

Kuhn embraced modern design in all of his work. Many of his projects were public school facilities in New Jersey though he did a fair number of houses across America. He designed the NJ Turnpike Toll Booth that Tony Soprano drives through during the intro to each show of the Sopranos.