Famous Illinois Architect Dies
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Posted: 3:40 PM Mar 9, 2010
Famous Illinois Architect Dies
CHICAGO (AP) -- The architect who designed Chicago's two most iconic skyscrapers -- the Willis Tower and the John Hancock Center -- has died at age 84.
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The Sears Tower is pictured in Chicago, Wednesday, June, 24, 2009. The Sears Tower will undergo a $350 million green remodeling effort at the 110-story skyscraper, including wind turbines, green roofs and solar panels. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
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Bruce J. Graham died Saturday at his home in Hobe Sound, Fla., of complications associated with Alzheimer's disease. That's according to a Monday news release from SCC Grossman, a Chicago-based public relations firm hired by Graham's family.

Graham was a senior designer from 1951 to 1989 at the Chicago-based architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, where he designed Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower.

It opened in 1974 and was the world's tallest until 1996 when the Petronas Twin Towers opened in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 110-story Chicago structure remains the tallest building in the U.S.

A private funeral will be held in Florida, followed by a memorial service in Chicago.
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