One of NH&RA’s earliest members, Allen Lew, died in New York on June 23 from complications from COVID-19. Lew was a DC planning executive who built a generation of Washington landmarks and served under three mayors. In December of 2019, he started a new job as senior vice chancellor for facilities and planning for the City University of New York.
“Beginning with the development of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in a challenging site at the boundary between downtown and the residential area of the Shaw neighborhood, Mr. Lew demonstrated a knack for coordinating complex and politically thorny projects in a city renowned for bureaucratic hurdles and litigious neighbors.” Lew’s full obituary can be found here.
NH&RA CEO, Peter Bell said, “Allen Lew was an exemplary public official bringing strong management skills and great tenacity to complicated projects. So much of DC today exhibits his contribution. He was a participant in NH&RA in my earliest days back in the 1970s and, being two of the few younger folks involved back then, we bonded. In fact, it was Allen who invited me to do my first out-of-town speaking gig at a Westchester County housing conference. I am so saddened to hear of his demise at the young age of 69. Our deepest sympathy to his family.”
