Jasminius Wilsonni Rudolphus Grandy III
Jasminius Wilsonni Rudolphus Grandy III (1919-2001), known as J.W.R. Grandy III, was an American landscape architect, architect, and educator. He spent most of his career at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where he taught horticulture and landscape architecture and later managed the physical development of the campus.
Early life and education
Grandy was born in 1919 in Windsor, North Carolina, in Bertie County. He grew up on a family farm and had sixteen siblings. He attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1940. While still a student, Grandy and a group of his school mates opened what was reported to be the first flower shop in Greensboro that was African American-owned.
In 1940, Grandy began graduate school Cornell University in the field of landscape architecture. He studied there for two years but left before finishing the master's program to return home and help save the family farm from foreclosure. A 1983 North Carolina A&T bulletin listed him as holding a B.S. from each institution.
Career
Grandy's first teaching position was at the Southern University School of Architecture in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he spent one year. He then returned to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, to teach landscape architecture and horticulture in the Department of Plant Science and Technology. There he taught horticulture and landscape architecture alongside Charles Fountain. A 2020 article in Landscape Architecture Magazine described both Fountain and Grandy as cofounders of the university's landscape architecture program.
The landscape architecture program at North Carolina A&T was formally established in 1976 and received accreditation in the early 1990s. The Sarah P. Duke Gardens credited Grandy with helping to establish the first accredited undergraduate landscape architecture program at a historically black college or university.
In 1975, Grandy took on the role of superintendent of grounds at North Carolina A&T. He managed campus planning and development until he retired in 1992. A 1991 university yearbook listed him among the school's administrators and noted his contributions to the centennial program through decorations and model building. He also served as an adviser to the New Farmers of America, a national vocational agriculture organization for African American students.
Alongside his academic work, Grandy maintained a private practice. In 1960, he designed the landscape for the J. Kenneth Lee Residence at 1021 Broad Avenue in Greensboro, a project later identified by NCModernist. The Cultural Landscape Foundation also records that he collaborated with the architect Arthur G. Odell Jr. on a project for Burlington Industries' industrial campus in Greensboro, completed in 1970 and demolished in 2005.
Death
Grandy died in 2001 at the age of 82. He was buried in Greensboro, North Carolina.