Cause of death Heart Attack Employer The Rouse Company Name Mort Hoppenfeld | Occupation Urban Planner Alma mater Berkeley | |
Died March 26, 1985, Columbia, Maryland, United States | ||
Mort Hoppenfeld (c. 1930 – March 26, 1985) was an Urban Planner who worked for the Rouse Company on the development of the Village of Cross Keys in Columbia, Maryland, and Darling Harbour in Sydney, Australia.
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Early career
Hoppenfeld graduated MIT as a planner in 1952, served in the military, and obtained a Master's degree in planning from Berkeley. He worked under Edmond Bacon on Philadelphia's urban renewal planning committees. In 1959 he was hired by Bill Finley at the National Capital Planning Commission. Both Finley and Hoppenfeld joined the Rouse company together in 1963.
Rouse Company
Hoppenfeld worked as a planner for the Rouse Company on the Columbia, Maryland development in Howard County, Maryland starting with the development of the Village of Cross Keys. Hoppenfeld traveled on a six-week tour with Rouse in Europe to survey post-war planned communities. Hoppenfeld left the Rouse company in 1975 during company cutbacks to become the dean of the University of New Mexico school of architecture and planning. Hoppenfeld returned to Columbia to form a private consulting company and teach at Catholic University. In 1982 he joined Enterprise Community Partners with James Rouse.
In 1984, Hoppenfeld was sent by Rouse to Australia to develop Darling Harbour including a Festival marketplace design modeled after the Inner Harbor. Hoppenfeld died of a heart attack while jogging in Columbia in 1985, before the project was completed.
A statue located on the edge of Lake Kittamaqundi named "The Hug" by Jimilu Mason was commissioned to honor Hoppenfeld.