In Memoriam – Hugh J. Connolly, AIA

August 20, 2014

Hugh Connolly, 56, died at University Medical Center at Princeton on May 31, 2014, after a courageous one-year battle with metastatic melanoma. It was his, and wife Peggy’s, 34th wedding anniversary.

Known as a kind, patient, ethical and always loving person, he will be missed enormously by his family. He is survived by his wife and college sweetheart, Peggy; his daughters, Erin, and Hope (Daniel Gadala-Maria); his brother, Patrick (Laura); sister-in-law Nancy Hoffmann (Dom Wadhwa); mother-in-law Ann Hoffmann; nieces, Mindy Hoffmann (Mark Wang) and Jennifer Hoffmann; aunts, and cousins. He was predeceased by his parents, Kathryn Donahue Connolly and Hugh (Jack) Connolly; his father-in-law, William G. Hoffmann, his brother-in-law, James Farwell Hoffmann, uncles and cousins.

Born on March 25, 1958, in Glen Ridge, NJ, and raised in New Vernon, NJ, Hugh graduated near the top of his class at Morristown High School, where he earned awards in track and field, was active in Yearbook, Literacy Magazine, History Club, golf and bowling. He earned a five-year professional degree of bachelor of architecture at Cornell in 1981, graduating a semester early due to Advanced Placement credits. He met his future wife, Peggy, in their freshman dorm, Cornell University Hall Two, and married in 1980. He worked for major architecture firms in the Princeton area, including The Hillier Group, Nadaskey Kopelson, The Spiezle Group, and Clarke, Caton, Hintz. In 2009, he started his own firm, Connolly Architecture, LLC with an emphasis on environmentally sustainable design.

During his career, he designed the headquarters of Beneficial Finance in Morristown, NJ; Shannondell Senior Living in Valley Forge, PA; a Frank Lloyd Wright prairie style house in Lambertville, NJ; Katmandu, a former ironworks in Trenton to become a nightclub, and a home for a family with chemical sensitivities; he redesigned the Lambertville House Hotel as well as designed an addition to his family’s house. Valuing its character, he and Peggy restored many aspects of their American Four Square home.  He was one of the first in the area to earn the LEED designation from the United States Green Building Council. He received the 1997 Downtown New Jersey Awards for the design of the Mercer County Civil Courthouse, Lambertville House, and Katmandu Night Club and the 2001 Downtown New Jersey Award for One Bergen Plaza.

He and Peggy settled in 1981 in Hopewell, where they raised their two daughters. He was active in many community organizations, including: Hopewell Harvest Fair (board member, contest chair, business exhibitor, and developer of ‘Green Lane’), Hopewell Borough Train Station Committee (to save the train station), the first Hopewell Gazebo Park Playground Committee, Hopewell Valley Green Team, and the Hopewell Borough Planning Board. Always a proponent of his daughters’ educational and recreational activities, he coached Hope’s softball team, developed an architectural scavenger hunt and helped with cookie sales (Girl Scouts), and fought the educational establishment to obtain the education his daughters needed. He always made time to be a part of his daughters’ activities to support them.

He was also a member of the American Institute of Architects, the Souvenir Building Collectors Society, Mensa, BNI Tigers Networking of Princeton, and the Princeton Chamber of Commerce. Hugh loved to travel, particularly to see outstanding architecture and visit historical sites, to walk through Hopewell, to collect souvenir buildings, to read sci-fi books, to play board games with his family, to watch historical and sci-fi movies, to test new games at Mensa’s annual Mind Games and to attend Mensa Princeton Tuesday lunches.

Viewing was held Saturday, June 7, at Hopewell Presbyterian Church, followed by a church service, with burial afterwards at Highland Cemetery, Hopewell.  In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Melanoma Research Foundation, Sierra Club, or  Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University.   Arrangements were by Wilson-Apple Funeral Home, 2560 Pennington Road, Pennington, NJ.  Contact his family at njreaders@aol.com or 609-466-1898.

A Note From AIA-NJ:

AIA New Jersey is very saddened by this loss to our architecture community in New Jersey.   In keeping with our policy of promoting architecture and mentoring our future professionals, AIA New Jersey will be making a donation in Hugh
’s name to the AIA New Jersey Scholarship Foundation.

If you would also like to make a donation in his name to the Scholarship Foundation, please send donations to:
AIA New Jersey Scholarship Foundation
c/o Jeanne Perantoni, AlA
1011 US Highway 22, Suite 203
Bridgewater, NJ  08807

By admin | Posted in AIA-NJ News, Members & the Community, NJ Architect Newsletter | Tagged: Connolly Architecture, Hugh Connolly AIA, In Memoriam | Comments (0)