*He co-designed the Aeron Chair.
Bill Stumpf (1936–2006)DWR says goodbye to a friend this month, Bill Stumpf, who passed away on August 30, 2006. In partnership with Don Chadwick, Stumpf co-designed the Aeron Chair for Herman Miller. He was also the author of The Ice Palace That Melted Away: How Good Design Enhances Our Lives, in which he wrote, "Civility can be extended by technology and can be obliterated by it. Civility is toleration, understanding. It is the integration of differences, not the heightening of them. Civility can be found anywhere – in the great faux city of Las Vegas and the backwaters of the Midwest."My last meeting with Bill was just more than a year ago when we were part of a seven-person panel discussing authenticity in design. He was the most prepared panelist, the funniest and the most unpredictable. I recall specifically his words of admonition to designers to focus on things that serve people and the environment, and I recall his magenta socks that stood out in the sea of black that most of us wear. He was truly a standout personality and designer.
