UPDATED: Longtime resident Edward T. M. “Ed” Tsoi, a multi-award-winning architect and college professor who served on the Arlington Redevelopment Board for three dozen years, until 2010, died Saturday, Aug. 19. He had just turned 80 years old.
Visitation took place Aug. 24 from 4 to 7 p.m. at Keefe Funeral Home, 5 Chestnut St., Arlington. No public funeral services are planned.
Among his other accomplishments, Tsoi was known locally for having made many suggestions that were implemented in the construction of the Arlington 360 apartments and the Brightview assisted-living facility on the site of the long-closed Symmes Hospital in town.
Memorial donations may be made to any of these three organizations: American Stroke Foundation, Aphasia.org or the Salvation Army, the obituary states.
Tsoi grew up in New Orleans and earned his bachelor’s degree in architecture at MIT, then completed two master’s degrees at University of Pennsylvania School of Urban Design. He met his wife, Louise, in Boston while he was at MIT, and they married in 1968.They raised their family for 53 years in the Arlington home that he restored.
His official obituary on the Keefe website relates, in part, as follows:
“Ed began his career with the Cambridge architecture firm of Sert, Jackson, and Associates. He went on to work at Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill in Boston. Ed co-founded his architecture firm, Tsoi Kobus and Associates, with his partner, Rick Kobus, in 1983 in Harvard Square.
“Ed’s passion for the built world and his lifelong work ethic were instrumental in the firm’s early and continued success in hospitals and research laboratories, as well as universities and pharmaceutical and commercial buildings.
“Ed designed one of the first proton treatment centers in the country at the MGH Hospital and continued to design many more throughout the U.S. The office received numerous design awards and grew to 130 people. Ed blended humanism and technology in his award-winning work and remained a mentor to many.
“Ed taught at the Boston Architectural Center from 1970-1973, at the Harvard Graduate School of Design from 1974-1977, and was a critic/guest lecturer in urban design from 1978-1991. He was a respected president of the Boston Society of Architects 1994-1995 and received their Award of Honor in 2013. He was also a member of the AIA National Boards.”
This piece by YourArlington editor Judith Pfeffer was published Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, based on information from Keefe Funeral Home and YourArlington's files.
