Remembering NKBA members and other industry figures who died in 2022.

By Dianne M. Pogoda

HERBERT “HERB” VOLLRATH KOHLER JR., executive chairman of Kohler Co., was an NKBA Hall of a Famer and an innovative pioneer in the kitchen and bath industry. He died on Sept. 3 in Kohler, Wis., at age 83. An independent-minded entrepreneur, Kohler’s six decades of leadership were integral to Kohler’s growth and success, helping to shape the “Bold Look of Kohler” into what it is today. Kohler was the grandson of John Michael Kohler, who founded the company in 1873, and the third generation of Kohlers to run the company. He became executive vice president in 1971, chairman and CEO in 1972, and added the title of president in 1974 — at just 35 years old. He was elected executive chairman in 2015 when his son, David, took over as president and CEO. Herb Kohler expanded the company’s brands and business operations, turning Kohler into one of the world’s leading manufacturers spanning plumbing fixtures and fittings, interiors, power generators, engines, tile, furniture and more. He kept a strong manufacturing base in the U.S. but also expanded around the world. Still family-held, Kohler Co. has annual revenues of more than $7 billion, and employs over 40,000 people globally. For more, go here.

 PIETRO A. “PETE” GIORGI, CMKBD, senior designer and consultant his family’s Giorgi Kitchens & Designs in Wilmington, Del., died March 10 at age 83. The design firm was founded in 1960 by Giorgi’s brother Joe. Pete joined after serving in the Civil Air Patrol and working in aviation early in his career. He grew to become a Certified Master Kitchen & Bath Designer and his career spanned 60 years. He was the husband of another K&B luminary, NKBA Hall of Famer Ellen Cheever, CMKBD, ASID, CAPS, CLIPP, who died in 2021. Cheever worked in the family’s business as well, and was an author and industry mentor, donating the body of her professional work to the Virginia Tech Apparel, Housing and Resource Management department at the Virginia Tech Center for Real Life Design, on the Blacksburg, Va., campus. Giorgi was a member of the Davinci Society, Sons of Italy, and a past State Deputy in the Knights of Columbus. Read more here.

SCOTT KOEHLER, CKD, a designer, builder, writer, tech expert and entrepreneur, died July 23 after a battle with pancreatic cancer at his home in Pinehurst, N.C. He was 69. The owner and president of Dream Kitchen Builders, Koehler was on the leading edge of technology in kitchen and smart design. His Pinehurst-based design-build firm operated without a showroom, instead using mobile devices and apps to market and manage his business. He started his career in industrial and computer sales, but changed paths, becoming a licensed general contractor, kitchen and bath designer, and member of NKBA, earning his CKD in 2000. He worked with his brother Tim Koehler as co-owner and general manager at My Dream Kitchen in Greensboro, N.C., from 1989 to 2010. While there, Scott was president of the Greensboro Builders Association, chairman of its Remodelers Council and a founder of the Tour of Remodeled Homes. He was also an industry mentor and consultant, served on the KBB magazine Editorial Advisory Board, Beko’s Healthy Kitchen Council and Signature Kitchen Suite’s Design Council. He was a featured speaker at KBIS, presented NKBA webinars and wrote for numerous trade publications. For more, go here.

STEPHANIE WITT, CMKBD, a devoted member of NKBA’s West Michigan Chapter, died March 28 at age 85. She was based in Grand Rapids, Mich., and was a member of the association since 1985. She was a volunteer at her local chapter, and served as National President in 2000. Witt owned Kitchens by Stephanie, a retail K&B design studio, for three decades. An expert in marketing, she gave frequent presentations on the subject at chapter meetings around the country, and also taught classes in K&B design at Baker College in Muskegon, Mich. She was also a judge for NKBA’s professional Design Competition and a part of the Member Standards Committee. In 2010, she led the West Michigan Chapter to a Star Award honor for Chapter Growth. For more, go here.

ANDREAS NOWAK, a former president and CEO of Geberit North America, died on March 6. Nowak, 57, joined Geberit in 2001 and was managing director of the Swiss company’s Austrian sales operation for six years. In 2007, he moved to the U.S., where he was named president and CEO of Geberit North America and Chicago Faucets. While continuing to lead Geberit, he successfully reshaped Chicago Faucets to be an industry leader in commercial faucets and fittings, offering products for healthcare, schools, laboratories, office buildings, food service, airports and sports facilities. He left the company in 2020.

DAVID SEIDERS, a former senior vice president and chief economist of the National Association of Home Builders, died Feb. 24 at 82. Seiders graduated with highest honors and a degree in economics from LaSalle College and received his Ph.D. from Penn State University. He served as a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Board, then as Chief Policy Analyst for housing finance with President Ronald Reagan’s commission on housing. During his time at NAHB, from 1984 to 2009, Seiders led the development of several housing barometers, including the monthly NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) that measures builder confidence in the single-family market. After retirement, he received an honorary faculty appointment and distinguished visiting professor from Marymount University.

JAMES “MICKEY” STANFORD NORMAN JR., who served as president of the National Association of Home Builders in 1975 and was inducted into the National Housing Hall of Fame in 1981, died on March 6. He was 98. Norman was a home builder and land developer, broker, lawyer and engineer based in Houston, and also served as president of the Greater Houston Builders Association (GHBA) in 1960. Read more on GHBA’s website.

ROCHELLE “SHELLEY” GILL (COHEN) SIEGEL, ASID fellow and former president of the ASID Florida South chapter, died May 11 at age 73. Siegel was an interior designer and educator, an early pioneer of Universal Design for the home, workplace, hospitality and healthcare environments. She served as president of the American Society of Interior Designers Florida South Chapter from 1993 to 1994. In 2004, she was inducted into the ASID College of Fellows and in 2010, she was named to the ASID Florida South Chapter Hall of Fame. In 2016, she was appointed by President Barack Obama to the U.S. Access Board, and participated in regulating and implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act.

CHRIS CASSON MADDEN: Chris Casson Madden, author, interior designer and an early HGTV personality, died March 2 from complications after falling in her Vero Beach., Fla., home. She was 73. A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, Madden began her career in publishing, wrote several books, including Interior Visions in 1988, Kitchens in 1993, A Room of Her Own in 1997, and The Soul of a House — Decorating with Warmth, Style and Comfort in 2015. She designed or licensed lines for Bassett Furniture Co., Austin Candles and Mohawk flooring; designed the Sanctuary line of throws and pillows for Bed Bath & Beyond, and in 2004, created a highly successful namesake furniture and housewares collection for J.C. Penney, which was one of the best-selling designer programs of the era. She helmed her own magazines, including “At Home with Chris Madden” with Hearst, and hosted “Interiors by Design,” on HGTV from 1995 until 2003.

PEDRO RIAZA, general secretary of the Spanish Ceramic Tile Manufacturers Association (ASCER), died in October. He joined the association in the 1990s and advised six of its presidents during his 25-year career, before retiring in 2019. ASCER is a private organization whose primary objective is to support Spain’s ceramic tile manufacturers and the industry as a whole by stewarding and promoting the Tile of Spain brand worldwide. KBB has more.

MARCUS FAIRS, founder, CEO and editor in chief of the Dezeen media platform, died on June 30 at age 54. He founded Dezeen in 2006 as one of the first design-focused digital publications devoted to interiors and architecture news. Earlier in his career, the award-winning journalist was a staff and freelance writer for publications including Building and Design, Condé Nast Traveler, The Guardian, Building and others. Dezeen has more.

GYO OBATA, FAIA, a world-renowned American architect and co-founder of the international firm HOK, died March 8 in St. Louis. He was 99. His career spanned seven decades and his designs include some of the world’s iconic structures, like One Metropolitan Square in downtown St. Louis, the King Saud University in Saudi Arabia, and the Sendai International Airport Terminal Building in Japan. He designed bridges for the U.S. Army, and after a few years at architecture firms including Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in Chicago and Hellmuth, Yamasaki & Leinweber in Detroit, he formed HOK with partners George Hellmuth and George Kassabaum. Among HOK’s most notable projects are the U.S. Olympic Fieldhouse in Lake Placid, N.Y.; the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and many other iconic facilities.

BRAD LYNCH, 64, cofounder of the renowned Brininstool + Lynch architecture firm in Chicago, died Sept. 26 after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. The Racine, Wis., native was enamored of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work from an early age, and like his idol, didn’t attend architecture school. Instead, he studied art, art history, engineering and landscape architecture at the University of Wisconsin. That led to a job managing the restoration of Wright’s first Herbert Jacobs House in Madison. He founded his firm with David Brininstool, AIA, in 1989. Among his notable projects are the Racine Art Museum, the Perimeter Gallery in Chicago and in New York, and Claremont House and Wood House in Chicago. Architect magazine has more.

DOREEN ADENGO, a rising star in progressive architecture, died July 22, after battling cancer for more than a year. Adengo earned her B.S. from Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and her M.Arch. from Yale. Upon graduation, she worked for architecture firms in London, Washington and New York. On returning to Kampala, Uganda, she founded Adengo Architecture in 2015. She also taught at The New School and Pratt Institute in New York; the University of Johannesburg’s Graduate School of Architecture in South Africa; and Uganda Martyrs University in Kampala. While in New York, she set up a free, private tutoring practice for students studying architecture.a