George H. Balsley: July 11, 1949 – March 17, 2025
Longtime chapter member George H. Balsley AIA passed away peacefully on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2025 at Cooley Dickinson Hospital with his wife and two sons close at his side. An Amherst native, George attended the Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Amherst Regional High School, Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY, and The Boston Architectural College. Using his lifelong experience with deafness, he created a new specialty called “Designing for the Deaf” — an expertise he shared with WMAIA through a program in 2012.
He worked for many years at Kuhn Riddle Architects. Here is a personal remembrance from Chris Riddle AIA Emeritus.
“George and I worked together for many years at Kuhn Riddle Architects, producing projects for several clients, perhaps the largest number for Clarke School for the Deaf; George was a graduate of the Clarke School. In the office, he communicated through speech reading mostly, though he was also fully literate in American Sign Language. George became one of our go-to guys for ADA work, both for accommodation for hearing-impaired people and general ADA and MAAB compliance. He was our Universal Design expert. I’ll add that he was gifted athletically, especially with downhill skiing*. The bottom line: George was a warm-hearted and funny member of the office community, a delight to have around and to learn from.”
* George was a member of the Deaf Ski Team and participated in the Deafl ympics at Adelboden, Switzerland. He came in 17th overall for the cumulation of three events he participated in. He thought “that wasn’t bad”. He also skied in the World Alpine Ski Championship at Les Arcs, France and finished 8th in the slalom event.
