The School of Architecture and Planning of The Catholic University of America proudly presents Professor Adèle Naudé Santos, Dean of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning in the Inaugural Lecture honoring George T. Marcou, FAICP Professor Emeritus, on Wednesday 10/26/11, 5:30pm at the Koubek Auditorium of the Crough Center for Architectural Studies, 620 Michigan Ave. NE, Washington, DC 20064.


Professor George Themistoclis Marcou taught at The Catholic University of America from 1962 to 2002. Born in Cairo, Egypt, he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology earning a bachelor’s degree in Architecture in 1953, and a master’s degree in city planning in 1955. During those years, he met a fellow student and the woman who would become his beloved wife during 56 years, Margaret, who also graduated from MIT. Both raised five children, three golden retrievers, and later enjoyed their eleven grandchildren. Professor Marcou was widely known for his professionalism, wonderful sense of humor, and practical approach to problem solving. Traveling around the world with Margaret, whether it was for business or for pleasure, was a great passion where his fluency in Arabic, Greek and French came in handy. His career as an urban planner began in 1962, when he founded Marcou, O’Leary and Associates, a planning and urban development consulting firm. There he directed projects for numerous counties and cities both in the United States and abroad. The firm received urban design awards from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, including an award for its preservation plan and program for the Vieux Carré Historic District in New Orleans. Projects in the Washington area included Fiscal Impact Analyses for Montgomery County, a program for revitalization of downtown Frederick, Maryland, campus plans for George Washington University and the National Institutes of Health, planning studies for Fairfax County and a study of Washington’s skyline for the National Capital Planning Commission. The firm was acquired by Westinghouse in 1973. In 1977, Professor Marcou became the first manager of the Community Development Bureau of the Metropolitan Washington Board of Trade, developing policy and action programs for the business community dealing with public issues. Later in 1979, he was appointed Deputy Executive Director of the American Planning Association (APA) where he was responsible for its policy and lobbying program. He also served on the APA’s Political and Legislative Committee. In 1993, Governor Schaffer of Maryland awarded Professor Marcou the Governor’s Award for Professional Excellence and the following year appointed him to the State of Maryland Economic Growth, Resource Protection and Planning Commission on which he served for five years. He was often asked to be a guest lecturer at conferences and universities in the U.S. and abroad. These invitations took him to Denmark, Greece, Italy, and the Netherlands. He was a longstanding member of Lambda Alpha International, an honorary land economics society and the American Institute of Certified Planners.

 Professor Emeritus George Marcou passed away on April 28, 2011 in Bethesda, Maryland.