Leon A. Pastalan (1930–2018)

Leon (Lee) Pastalan, the founder and the first editor of Journal of Housing for the Elderly, died on May 8, 2018, in Hambourg Township, Michigan. This Special Issue is dedicated to his memory.

Dr. Pastalan introduced me to the field of environment and aging through the doctoral program in the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan. Though he was not an architect, Lee joined the college of architecture following the 1960s urban crisis when numerous social scientists entered schools of architecture around the country, aspiring to educate future architects and urban planners about human factors. Alongside his kindness and subtle humor, he brought to his teachings compassion for all human beings and an empathy for older adults. As a long-standing researcher in the field of environments for older people, he was an expert in sensory deficits, spatial behavior, and housing. With others, Lee founded the first doctoral program in architecture in the United States and became one of the few who headed the inception of the field of environmental gerontology. Lee’s undeniable contribution to this field of study is validated by the large cohort of graduate students he coached at the University of Michigan to became leaders of the discipline. Their impact on the proliferation of this branch of learning has been instrumental around the world.

Lee was born in Newark Valley, NY, and was raised on the family dairy farm. After graduating from high school in 1948, he studied at State University of New York at Cortland. Following graduation he served in the U.S. Army, and after his service he earned his doctoral degree from Syracuse University in 1961. Dr. Pastalan had a long and distinguished career as a professor at the University of Northern Colorado, Hartwick University, the University of Toledo, and finally at the University of Michigan from 1966 until his retirement in 1998. During his tenure at the University of Michigan he was a professor of architecture, a senior research scientist at the Institute of Gerontology, chairman of the Doctoral Program of Architecture, and director of the National Center on Housing and Living Arrangements for the Elderly.

Lee will be missed by many of us. The grace of the years of his life is the measure of how he died. Ars moriendi ars vivendi est: The art of dying is the art of living.