Testimonials

In the 1990s, I had worked for John as a contractor, helping him to finish the 2nd edition of the Residential Windows book, as well as beginning to translate what was soon to be the Minnesota Sustainable Design Guide into a web version of the guidelines. I distinctly remember him saying to me, “When you are ready, you can come work for me full-time.” I was John’s first hire at CSBR in 1998. For the next 15 years at CSBR, John and I developed effective tools and guidelines for the window industry. Upon his retirement, we took all this successful work and transitioned the Efficient Windows Collaborative (EWC) to a nonprofit organization.

John and I had a special and unique working relationship. As a mother of 4 active children, John gave me the flexibility to be able to juggle work expectations and a busy home life. John often joked that if he needed to discuss something with me or meet some sort of deadline, the best time for him to call was at 10pm at night, because he knew I would be working after the kids went to bed.

John guided me professionally and personally. He was my boss (referred to as “Boss John” by my children), my mentor, my counselor, and most importantly, he was my friend. I miss him every day.

Kerry Harp (Haglund), Senior Sustainability Analyst, Pearl Certification
(former CSBR Senior Research Fellow)

John was the B3 spiritual leader. B3 was and still is the most progressive, performance based, regionally specific guide to conducting sustainable design in the country. I don’t think any of this would have happened without John, including SB 2030. If we get to the goals we need to reach, as a state, country, world, John will have played a very big party, bigger that we may know.

John was an amazing person. Super smart, patient, a great teacher and many other attributes. But if there were a word cloud for John’s many attributes, it would be a very giant “HUMBLE”, surrounded by many other words. He was, simply put, the most humble person I know. I feel like that rubbed off on those around him, including all of us on the B3 team. As a result, we probably did not make a big enough deal of the incredible work done here in Minnesota.

Rick Carter, CEO, LHB

In addition to being an all-around great person and mentor, I remember John fondly for his leadership skill set.

1. John was an excellent communicator. His oral, written, and visual communication skills were extraordinary. You can see his hand in several foundational books on building performance. We still use today many of John’s graphics in our publications and presentations.

2. John had an uncanny gift of being able to break down a complicated or complex problem into smaller solvable parts. He would remind you that we don’t need the exact answer right now, we need to develop a path to find the best answer.

3. John was a highly successful team builder. He developed many teams that were well beyond his own technical wheelhouse. He knew how to find the needed expertise and get them to work together towards a common goal.

John was a pioneer in the environmental movement. He clearly understood the inextricable relationship between building performance and long-term sustainability. There is no doubt that John’s programs, projects, and publications have left an indelible print on thousands of people and millions of buildings!

Patrick Huelman, Associate Professor, University of Minnesota

I first got to know John in a canoe at a planning retreat in the early 90s for the development of what was then, NSP’s new Energy Assets Program. As a young professional, I was struck by his interest in my career satisfaction and by his enthusiastic demeanor about working in energy conservation. Working with him on and off in the 90s made it an easy choice later to join CSBR in 2002, to help develop and launch the new B3 Sustainable Building Guidelines. There is much to be frustrated with in environmental work, but John brought joy to the cause and set a tone of constructive focus on solutions. As co-PI’s on the B3 Guidelines, we shared a passion for moving building guidance toward performance-based criteria that allowed more creativity for designers in how to achieve results. When I think of working with John, I think of him smiling, his face lit up as he pulls out a fresh gridded notepad to brainstorm ideas with his team.

It seems like John had multiple careers within one career with significant contributions in each part–from his underground housing research to windows research to B3 Sustainable Building guidelines and more. I am most familiar with his work on B3 guidelines where he built partnerships across organizations, and with the CSBR team, translated many perspectives into guidelines that helped improve the performance of state buildings and was an example for other states to follow. The Minnesota B3 Guidelines set a bar for designing sustainable buildings that challenged and grew the capacity of design teams for performance-based design and improved their impact on the built environment. The continued development of B3 is a testament to the strong foundation developed through his facilitated collaboration and leadership.

Jonee Kulman Brigham, AIA, LEED O+M, Senior Research Fellow, Minnesota Design Center, College of Design, University of Minnesota

John never turned down a request for help or guidance in the many years i new him and worked with him. My favorite story is that one year as I was working for my Master's Degree I asked him to teach me to use a particular design program and he refused. He told me that is was soon to be obsolete and he could not recommend it. We worked out a research paper and all was well. When I look at John’s body of work today, I am amazed of the broad impact John had - from the architecture to building science. His books, writings, his commitment to making a better world, and his kindness I will never forget.

John will always be recognized as a forerunner of the environmental movement around the world.

Marilou Cheple, PhD, UMN - Retired

More than anything, my memory of working with John was that he cared about you first and foremost as a person and a friend. Sometimes that related to your career goals and work interests, which he always tried to support to the utmost of his ability. But often it would go well beyond that too. He cared about how you were doing at home, with a new baby, with health issues, with family members and partners, and so on. I'll always be grateful for the time he set aside to console and council me on the big and not-so-big challenges that life delivered, even after he had retired. He was a true friend to all.

Rolf Jacobson, Research Fellow, Center for Sustainable Building Research

Wow, where do I begin? John was pivotal, essential I’d say, in the growth of my career. I taught my first studio on the subject of biology and architecture in 2005 at the University of Minnesota. The work went on to win AIA COTE (Committee on the Environment) Awards, to be presented at academic conferences and in lectures, and to influence my own scholarship immeasurably. I chaired the 2008 ACADIA (Assoc. for Computer Aided Design in Architecture) Conference, themed on this topic, and co-authored a book with Blaine Brownell on the topic. Here at CU Denver, I started a lab that conducts research at the intersection of biology and architecture and am in the process of launching a minor focused on biodesign. This is all due to the generosity of John when I taught that first studio, of connecting me to Janine Benyus, who wrote the book “Biomimicry,” and mentoring me on developing the course and writing that first syllabus in 2005. He was so incredibly generous with sharing his knowledge, helping me to grow as a teacher, and igniting my enthusiasm around a topic I knew very little about. He remained a mentor and friend throughout my time at UMN and I will be forever grateful for the impact his kindness and selflessness had on my career.

He launched the University of Minnesota Center for Sustainable Building Research (CSBR), which has become one of the leading thinktanks on resilience and sustainable design in the country. He championed an effort to make sustainability central to most school’s core curricula, shifting it away from being an afterthought or an add-on. His research is internationally recognized and has catalyzed new, emerging research that is leading conversations around how architecture can contribute to positively addressing climate change. UMN is now thought of as a leading school in the realm of sustainable design, and this is due in no small part to John’s scholarship and impact. What an amazing legacy!

Marc Swackhamer, Architecture Chair and Professor, University of Colorado Denver

John was a model colleague who shared his knowledge and research with passion and generosity. It was clear that John’s research and community-engaged projects were part of a larger mission to help make our environments (built and natural) more livable and sustainable for all inhabitants. As a friend, John layered each encounter with a joyful spirit and lightness of being punctuated by an infectious smile.

John Comazzi, Baseball Fan / Associate Professor, University of Virginia (formerly UMN)

I feel very fortunate to work with John when I was the Head of the School of Architecture. I came to know the amazing positive impact he had on the students through his teaching, and also how his reputation elevated sustainable design dialogue internationally.

When I traveled to Beijing or Las Vegas, the most common comment I heard was “I’ve been so influenced by the work of John Carmody”.

For such an intellectual giant, he was also entirely approachable and down to earth, always ready to roll up his sleeves and pitch in.

The reason I think John’s body of work has a great impact has everything to do with his open curiosity. While he had strongly held beliefs, he was persuasive and compelling because he explained them with humility and compassion.

Renee Cheng, Dean, College of Built Environments, University of Washington

I had the wonderful fortune to meet with John when I was hired as an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota in 2005. When I was with the U, various research initiatives and teaching projects sometimes overlapped with the CSBR and John was always a very generous and gracious colleague. He was always willing to meet and talk and help me think through some of the things that were clearly in his expansive wheelhouse. And he did so with kindness, warmth and a genuine investment too!

John remains one of the most important researchers, scholars and thinkers for environmental design. Colleagues here in Canada are familiar with his work and cite it often. John lives an ethos of his research, he embodies the tireless work of stewardship, of deliberate, serious and creative research. He modelled, to me, genuine mentorship and care in helping create a community of practice dedicated to environmental repair.

Ozayr Saloojee, Associate Professor, Carleton University School of Architecture and Urbanism

John was a great collaborator and colleague. I felt a profound sense of mission and purpose in all of our conversations. I was always happy to run into John—typically in the corridors of Rapson Hall or the streets around campus. Seeing him always made me smile. John will be sorely missed.

John educated generations of students who are now leading the sustainable design charge in architecture and allied disciplines. He also inspired many colleagues in scholarship and practice who carry out his legacy today. As a small token of appreciation in honor of his significant accomplishments, I dedicated my recent book Examining the Environmental Impacts of Materials and Buildings to John.

Blaine Brownell, Professor and Director, UNC Charlotte School of Architecture

John and I were schoolmates in architecture at the University of Minnesota. We were both interested in architectural research as an important basis for architectural practice, although we pursued research in different subjects.

It was very exciting when John, along with others, instituted one of the first architectural research centers at the UofMN. His innovative approach to measuring sustainability made the center a national leader in that area. He advanced the cause by developing statewide commitment to sustainable design that could be measured and assessed. John's teaching at the university influenced many students and his research greatly benefitted our region, . Our region’s leadership position in sustainability has been advanced and sustained by practitioners and researchers inspired by his work and teaching, who then influenced others.

John was not just a brilliant leader, he was a kind and generous person, supportive of his colleagues and students. He made many research opportunities available to others. For example I had the opportunity to work on various programming and research projects that advanced my own work, thanks to his invitations, to join the team.

And John was also fun to be around and to work with. Joint projects under his leadership were joyful as team members were collaborative and appreciative of each others contributions.

Julia Robinson, Professor, School of Architecture, Univ of MN

While I never worked directly with John, I always found him to be a witty, jovial and friendly colleague who was always willing to go out of his way to help a colleague or student. His presence in CDES will be sorely missed.

David Pitt, Professor Emeritus, Department of Landscape Architecture at UMN