Stuart Mitchell Canter 12/7/1964 - 11/9/2020:
It is with a very heavy heart that I announce that my big brother Stuart Canter passed away last night at age 55. We are devastated. I am grateful for all the moments we shared and all that he blessed me and our entire family and extended family with. You can never be prepared for a loss of a family member. Today as the sun raised once again, a hole has been left where he once stood. He enriched our lives with all he shared with us. He was only 55 years old and really struggled over the last 2 years to overcome debilitating health conditions due to heart disease and diabetes that slowly took his life, way too soon, way too young.
I know I am not alone in saying that Stuart added a rare depth, perspective, and mindful insight to his family and friends. To know Stuart, was to love him.
He was creative, sensitive, and somewhat reserved, but if you had the pleasure to have engaged into a conversation with him, he would blow your mind. That’s because Stuart was a genius, as a teenager his IQ test was at the top of the spectrum. Back in the day, before there was “Siri”, and before we had access to computers, we used to call Stu “The Human Encyclopedia”, if you had a question, you could always ask Stu and he would have the answer. We all said if you were going to need a “Life-Line” he was the obvious choice to call.
Stu could be eccentric, he loved Big Band music, Count Basie, Jimmy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman among others. While other kids in High School were listening to Classic Rock, you could hear swing music playing from his room. Stu loved cities, and urban planning and airports was his passion even before he was a teenager. Stu was a collector of pens, cameras, hats, watches, and loved smart industrial design of all and any kind. He traveled and love cities and studied maps of the great cities around the world. He could arrive just off the plane to a new place and was already to be your personal tour guide. Stuart seemed to somehow just gracefully skip the mentality of the teenage years and directly become an adult by age 15. He was always mature beyond his years at an early age.
Ultimately architecture would become his passion and obsession. He taught me about Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer, Eero Saarinen, Mies van der Rohe, and other masters of architecture before I was 10 years old. I idolized my big brother, and wished I was as smart as he was. He challenged me to be and do better. His path took him to Berkley school of Architecture. It would take years for me to “reach” his maturity level. His was my earliest influence on art and architecture and he helped lead me on a path to study art, theater, film and architecture. I believe I graduated with a Master’s from college largely just to prove myself worthy to him. We found ourselves living together after school and I was overjoyed when he wanted to start a design firm with me, which we would name, FCB:Design, a.k.a Flying Canter Brothers design, this name represented our fathers name for his 3 boys as kids, Stuart, Markus, and Mason.
Working with Stu was challenging, he was a perfectionist and an idealist, but we would design many homes and production design a number of films together, and although the process could be elaborate, I always was proud of the result we created as a team.
Without his influence, I would not have likely have become a successful production designer at the early age of 21 years old. So many of his ideas and design observations had impacted my mind and had become distilled into my personal esthetic. I am so lucky to have had him impact my life.
Stuart was complicated, his intelligence could get in his way, he would overthink things, much of his life was driven by his obsession with making things “right”, He would challenge me to elevate to a higher level. Stu was absolutely amazing with the details. He could focus his energy on attention to detail like no one else. It most often meant he was given the role to solve the toughest questions. Even my parents would defer to him.
Trying to win an argument with Stu was pointless, he had a great vocabulary, a sharp wit, hours and hours of stamina for a debate, and a spectacular intellect that could see things as they are. Stuart was very loyal and a great friend to have, he enhanced you if you had the pleasure of being in his company. I would like to acknowledge a few of my brother’s dear friends who over the years meant so much to him; Steve, Raymond, Ann, Jill, Julie, to name a few. He loved you all, any friend of our Brother Stu is a friend of ours for life. Thank you for all the amazing times you shared together. He cherished you all.
Stu had a heart of gold, he was a precious and rare human being, he was a deeply beautiful soul. So much of his talent went underutilized, unexposed, and unappreciated. It saddens me that he left us incomplete. Stuart was a late bloomer, as a very young person he seemed to understand the struggle to achieve greatness. So many of the famous architects whose careers and mastery of their craft finally came later in life, they didn’t come into their best years until they had the opportunity to grow old. Our world lost a very special being last night before he fully blossomed and came to age. I love my brother with all my heart, and my world has been illuminated by his presence since I was born. I will never stop loving, cherishing, appreciating, and missing him. I am grateful for all the blessing he has bestowed on us all.
Stu’s last year was full of struggles, he was brave, courageous, and lived passionately despite it all. I am pained by his loss, but know now he has found peace.
Stu may you rest in peace along side the “good guys” (and gals) Howie (Dad), Al, Manny, Gary, Sid, Steven, & Avrum Pinkus to name just a few and all our family and friends before us who have ascended to the next dimension.
Your brother forever,
Markus
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