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Renowned Manhattan architect dies after she was struck by falling piece of building facade in freak accident

Apart from being highly skilled in her field, 60-year-old Erica L Tishman volunteered and was a board member for several charitable and educational organizations
UPDATED DEC 18, 2019
60-year-old Erica L. Tishman volunteered and was a board member for several charitable and educational organizations. (Zubatkin)
60-year-old Erica L. Tishman volunteered and was a board member for several charitable and educational organizations. (Zubatkin)

A woman described as an "extraordinary New Yorker" was tragically killed by falling building debris in Midtown on Tuesday, December 17, just a few blocks from the firm where she was a vice president. She was a veteran architect, according to the New York Post report.

Apart from being highly skilled in her field, 60-year-old Erica L. Tishman volunteered and was a board member for several charitable and educational organizations.

Alan van Capelle, CEO and president of the social-service nonprofit Educational Alliance — where Tishman was a board member — described her as "so incredibly smart and indefatigable."

“We feel like a piece of our soul has been ripped apart," Capelle said. Erica attended Riverdale Country School in The Bronx before graduating from Princeton University in 1981.

On June 20, 1982, she tied the knot with financial analyst Steven Tishman and went on to have three children together, named Adam, Stuart and Julia.

Erica then received a master's degree in architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and in 1993, she joined the renowned New York architecture firm DeWitt Tishman Architects, who honored her by placing her name on the mantle.

The esteemed architect played an instrumental role in designing Jersey City’s Trump Plaza, which was completed in 2008. She also worked on the adjacent Trump Bay Street.

DeWitt Tishman was credited in a 2007 New York Times article as the driving force that led the creation of New Jersey's "distinctive" waterfront skyline. Erica eventually became a vice president at the construction project-management firm Zubatkin Owner Representation in 2017.

The rockstar architect tragically died just 10 minutes away from the firm, which is located on West 52nd Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues.

To add to her stunning credentials, Erica was also chair of the board of directors at the ­Educational Alliance until June 2018. Furthermore, she was a trustee at her alma mater, the Riverdale Country School, and of Central Synagogue in Midtown, where she and her husband had been members since 1992.

According to the report, Erica spearheaded the Educational Alliance's Head Start program, which helps preschool children from low-income families. She is also credited with the creation of an addiction treatment center in Alphabet City.

“She is in every way an ­extraordinary New Yorker,” he said.

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