Sincoff, former HOK president, to become dean of Architecture

Jerome J. Sincoff will serve as dean of Architecture at Washington University beginning July 1, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton announced Jan. 19.

Sincoff is former president and chief executive officer of Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum Inc. (HOK), one of the world’s largest architecture firms. Effective immediately, he will serve as special assistant to the current dean, Cynthia Weese.

Jerome Sincoff
Jerome Sincoff

Weese, who has led Architecture since 1993, will step down June 30 and return to private practice in Chicago.

“Dean Weese has provided critical leadership to Architecture and has had significant impact in strengthening the program,” Wrighton said. “Jerry Sincoff is one of the most capable executives in his profession as well as a loyal alumnus and a longtime supporter of the University. I am confident that he will bring effective leadership to Architecture and ably assist in accelerating its progress.”

Sincoff earned a bachelor of architecture degree from WUSTL in 1956.

Following a tour of duty with the U.S. Army’s Air Defense Command, he joined the St. Louis-based HOK — then a small local firm — in 1962, rising from draftsman to design and production architect to vice president, office-managing principal and corporate vice chairman.

In 1990, when founding partner and University alumnus Gyo Obata became chairman, Sincoff became president and CEO.

Sincoff has served as project executive for numerous large-scale developments, including the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.; Mobile headquarters in Fairfax, Va.; BP Corporate America headquarters in Cleveland; One Civic Center Plaza in Denver; and Bristol-Myers Squibb headquarters in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Major St. Louis-area projects include One Bell Corporate Center; the Nestle Purina headquarters; the Edward Jones building; and the preservation and renovation of Union Station. In addition, Sincoff was the driving force behind the 1995 establishment of HOK University, which provides online courses to more than 1,600 HOK employees in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

At WUSTL, Sincoff has served as the Ethan A.H. Shepley Trustee; chaired both the Alumni Board of Governors and the Architecture national council; and co-chaired the Sam Fox Arts Center capital campaign.

In 2004, he was one of seven recipients of the University’s Distinguished Alumni Award, and he received Architecture’s Dean’s Medal for service in 1999 and an Distinguished Alumni Award in 1997. Sincoff and his wife, Suzanne, are Life Members of the Willliam Greenleaf Eliot Society and have provided a fund to support the Jerome J. and Suzanne M. Sincoff Endowed Scholarship.

A fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Sincoff is a co-founder of the AIA’s Large-Firm Roundtable and the first architect elected chairman of the Construction Industry Roundtable.

He also served on the research council of the National Academy of Sciences and was a member of the National Building Research Board.

Sincoff is past president of The Saint Louis Art Museum’s Board of Commissioners. Last October, he was named head of the Architectural Selection Advisory Committee, which will lead the search for an architect to design an addition to the museum’s present facilities in Forest Park.

A St. Louis native, Sincoff graduated from University City High School in 1951. He was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2004.