
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, September 15, 1995                   TAG: 9509150045
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

PROFESSOR'S SERVICE IS SEPT. 22

A memorial service for Charles S. Worley Jr., a retired professor who helped shape Virginia Tech's College of Architecture and Urban Studies, will be held Sept. 22, at 4:30 p.m. in Cowgill Hall on the Tech campus.

Worley, 83, who died Sept. 8 after a lengthy illness, came to Virginia Tech in 1947, beginning a long career teaching architectural design and urban planning.

The hiring of Worley to teach architectural design was the "initial step" in upgrading and modernizing Tech's architecture program, according to Len Currie, former head of architecture at Tech.

Worley was one of several faculty members in the late '40s and '50s largely responsible for the success of Tech's architecture program, which went on to become ranked in the '70s as one of the top programs in the country, according to a department spokesman.

Charles Steger, former architecture dean and now a Tech vice president, said, "When I was first appointed dean, I always looked to Charles Worley as an individual who would carry the flame of the modern movement in architecture. We will surely miss him, but remember fondly the legacy he left behind."

One of Worley's former students, architect Henry Shriver of Norfolk, described his professor as "a strong design critic, a good friend and an extraordinary man. He influenced a great number of students over the years."

Worley retired from Tech in 1982.

The son of an oil prospector in New Mexico, Worley attended the University of New Mexico and later received his bachelor of science degree in architectural engineering from the University of Oklahoma. He obtained his master's of science from the Illinois Institute of Technology where he studied under Mies van der Rohe.

Patricia K. Edwards, dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, praised Worley's "creative talents." Among his architectural projects was the Museum of Arts of Ogunquit, Maine, and the Claytor Lake Camp in Virginia.

In lieu of flowers, his wife, Margaret Atkins Worley, asked that contributions be made to the Charles S. Worley Scholarship Fund at Virginia Tech.

by CNB