William Sims Jr., a workplace design strategist and former department chair in the College of Human Ecology, died Feb. 7 at the age of 86.

Sims, a professor emeritus and chair of the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis (DEA) – now part of the Department of Human Centered Design – was a faculty member at Cornell for 28 years, specializing in organizational workplace analysis and how the physical workplace environment impacted people’s interaction and identity. Along with Frank Becker, professor emeritus, Sims conducted research that became the leading source for workplace design strategies for Fortune 500 companies.

Trained as an architect, Sims received his doctorate in planning and urban design from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Colleague Gary Evans said Sims championed new, evidence-based approaches to design rather than the purely intuition-driven, believing that quantitative assessments of how people interact with their work spaces were critical to successful facility planning and management.

“Bill always wanted research on people and settings to be connected to the actual physical environment,” said Evans, the Elizabeth Lee Vincent Professor of Human Ecology. “Bill put DEA on the map as the leading department for design research that was scientifically rigorous but well-grounded in practice. He challenged his faculty and colleagues to do good research that designers as well as their clients could use to produce places that would better support human needs.”

Rhonda Gilmore, director of undergraduate studies in design and environmental analysis, praised Sim’s mentorship.

“Bill was a wonderful guide to me, my teaching career and our entire department,” she said. “His leadership as DEA chair was a steady hand to our diverse department, where he continued to support all three of our disciplines: facilities management, human factors and interior design.”

Sims was born Dec. 17, 1938, in Gulfport, Mississippi. The first in his family to attend college, he worked at his uncle’s gas station, at various construction sites and as an architectural drafter to put himself through the University of New Mexico, graduating in 1963 with a bachelor’s degree in architecture.

He received his master’s degree in architecture and city planning from the University of Pennsylvania in 1965, and won a Fulbright Scholarship to Oslo, Norway, in 1966 to study city planning with a focus on urban green spaces.

Sims was a strong proponent of spending time in nature. He and his wife, Jean, sold 200 acres of their Lansing, New York, parcel to the Finger Lakes Land Trust to create the Sims-Jennings Preserve, which provides public access to nature on the shores of Cayuga Lake. He also renovated several old houses and barns, including the farmhouse in Lansing where he and Jean lived for 40 years.

He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Jean Lee (Booth) Sims, and his daughter, Hallie Jean Sims, both of Lansing.

Robin Roger is the assistant dean for communications in the College of Human Ecology.