The late Barclay Gibbs Jones -- a mentor, prolific scholar and visionary professor of planning at Cornell for more than 35 years -- was honored by alumni and colleagues Dec. 1 in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning.

Jones taught at Cornell from 1961 until his death in 1997, chairing 78 Ph.D. committees and pioneering in the field of disaster planning. The tribute was followed by the dedication of the Barclay G. Jones Urban Design Laboratory in 301 W. Sibley Hall, which is being used to plan the rebuilding of New Orleans.

Attendees at a remembrance event in Tjaden Gallery were provided with bowties, a nod to Jones' signature sartorial touch. Dean Mohsen Mostafavi noted that Jones' former students include six current City and Regional Planning (CRP) faculty members, including department chair Kenneth Reardon, Ph.D. '90, and professor William Goldsmith, Ph.D. '68.

"Nearly a decade after his passing, faculty in the Department of City and Regional Planning still measure their work by the standard of excellence established by Professor Jones," Reardon said.

CRP professor Susan Christopherson said that when she joined the department, she puzzled over Jones' unusual position of authority. "Everyone deferred to him," she said. "I didn't find out until later that he was the professor of the professors."

Many students knew Jones as a habitual night owl. Ulker Copur, Ph.D. '76, recalled him giving her some Turkish coins during an 11 p.m. visit to his home and urging her to think of where they were made.

"He really taught me how to make connections, from a little object to a building, a city or the entire world," Copur said.

Robert Schwarting, B.S. '71, M.Eng. '76, remembered Jones' generosity and his "uncanny ability" to keep track of former students. "He was one of the most significant mentors of my life," he said.

At the formal dedication of the design laboratory, associate professor of art Roberto Bertoia unveiled a clay bust of Jones, which will be cast in bronze and mounted on a stack of papers and books, reflecting Jones's office decor. Bertoia is seeking a pair of the late professor's eyeglasses to complete the sculpture.

The 1,300-square-foot design laboratory was rushed into use in September 2005 to accommodate third-year architecture students from Tulane University who found refuge at Cornell following Hurricane Katrina. The facility -- with 12 computers and 12 drafting tables, video equipment and a printing/scanning facility -- is currently the center of activity for a CRP team assisting in planning the rebuilding of New Orleans' Ninth Ward, as part of the city's Unified Recovery Plan.

In addition to the dedication, Robert Olshansky, a planning professor from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, gave two related lectures in Goldwin Smith Hall, "Recovering from Natural Disasters" and "Planning the Rebuilding of New Orleans," Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.

"When I started doing this work in the early '90s, there wasn't anything from a planning point of view on disasters, other than what Barclay did and one or two others," Olshansky said.

Barclay G. Jones III and Louise Tompkins Jones '87 participated in the laboratory's ribbon-cutting and were presented with their father's recently discovered Rolodex.

Jones held degrees in fine arts, architecture, regional planning and economics. He came to Cornell "to reinvigorate the entire program and expand it beyond planning," Goldsmith said. "He was a path-breaking innovator in historic preservation, regional science and disaster planning."

Jones directed the program in urban and regional studies at Cornell, initiated the Historic Planning Preservation program, chaired CRP, and set up a center within the department for social and economic research. Bertoia said Jones was responsible for saving the Foundry building from demolition by seeking historic landmark status from the city of Ithaca. Jones also helped found the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, which gave him its Distinguished Planning Educator honor in 1990.

"He ... encompassed the broadest scope of interests and skills in his profession," Christopherson said. "His research really reflected his catholic interests and curiosity. If Barclay were around, he'd have a lot to do right now."