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Timur Galen (MArch’84, MSE’84) might have been an astrophysicist.
That was his major as an undergraduate at Haverford College. But during his time there, he worked closely with an advisor who was chair of the Department of Anthropology and ended up, as a result, “effectively” double-majoring in that subject. Since astrophysics didn’t have as many lab requirements as other physics degrees, he also had time to both explore other electives and co-captain the Varsity Soccer Team. At the urging of his roommate, he enrolled in a variety of Studio Fine Arts courses, including life drawing and sculpture. Galen also happened to be friends with the son of Ian McHarg, the legendary professor and chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the Weitzman School, and during his last summer in college, he worked as an intern at Wallace McHarg Roberts & Todd, McHarg’s firm in Center City.
After graduation, he had a degree in physics and a portfolio of drawings and sculptures. Following a year of teaching physics in each of Kenya and New York City, he applied to half-a-dozen graduate schools, in Astrophysics and Architecture, and was accepted to all of them. But Professor Emeritus Peter McCleary, the former chair of the Department of Architecture, extended a generous scholarship and encouraged Galen to study at Penn.
Forty years later, at the apex of a career that has spanned architectural practice and finance, with posts ranging from Goldman Sachs to the Walt Disney Company, Galen has made a gift of $1.25 million to support future graduate architecture students at the Weitzman School. The gift has established the Linda Genereux and Timur Galen Family Fellowship Fund in Honor of Peter M. McCleary which, once fully endowed, will cover full tuition for an incoming graduate student studying Architecture.
Peter McCleary (circa 1972) during a class in Meyerson Hall
“Peter was very influential in how I even got started in architecture school and in helping me shape my education. I was able to afford to go partly because of Peter and the scholarship that Penn gave me,” Galen says. “It seemed to me that my job is to, in part, enable somebody else to have the same opportunity that I had.”
Fitting with his wide-ranging academic studies, Galen has built a career that touches on all areas of design practice. He apprenticed with Pritzker Architecture Prize winner and former Assistant Professor of Architecture Robert Venturi. In the early 1980s, he was a Henry Luce Scholar at Tokyo University where he worked with Fumihiko Maki, another Pritzker Prize winner. After completing his professional apprenticeship, he explored real estate finance and development with Hines, BPT Properties, and Reichmann International, was General Manger of Walt Disney Imagineering for the West Coast and Pacific, and was a Partner and Global Co-head of Corporate Services and Real Estate at Goldman Sachs, where he led the development of architectural projects around the world. Later, as an Executive Vice President at Related Companies, he helped oversee the development of Hudson Yards in New York, where he lives with his wife, the arts professional and filmmaker Linda Genereux.
Along the way, Galen developed a knack for bringing together teams of professionals in pursuit of shared architectural goals. He has taught at universities around the country, sometimes urging Architecture students to understand the financial and cultural ecosystems they work in, and sometimes urging business students to understand the principles of design. He also acquired expertise in investment management while serving on not-for-profit boards, including as board chair for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
Galen has long been interested in how institutional investments can reflect organizational values. His gift to Weitzman follows that same philosophy, with guidance that the endowment be invested in Penn’s mission-aligned investment options, reflecting the School’s commitments to equity and sustainability. “It was important to me that Penn offers this flexibility,” Galen notes. “My hope is simply that the gift supports Weitzman’s students and mission in a way that feels consistent with those values. If the principles behind our gift have any traction among other Weitzman constituencies, that would be fantastic.”
“If architecture is to fulfill its responsibility in terms of public health, safety, and welfare, it’s essential that architects come from all backgrounds,” says Weitzman Dean and Paley Professor Fritz Steiner. “Timur’s generosity removes a barrier for future architects.”
Galen says he envisions the scholarship helping to bring young people with a variety of talents into the world of design. “I kind of hope it’s in support of people like me,” Galen says. “The person for whom architecture is the right trajectory but who wouldn’t be able to get there otherwise.”
