Sylvan R. Shemitz, whose lighting designs warmed the facade of Grand Central Terminal and flooded the Jefferson Memorial, died on July 5 while sailing his boat, the Light Fantastic, on Long Island Sound. He was 82 and lived in Woodbridge, Conn.
The cause was most likely a heart attack, said Sue Wilson, Mr. Shemitz’s assistant at Sylvan R. Shemitz Designs, the architectural-lighting manufacturer that Mr. Shemitz founded and of which he was chief executive.
As a lighting designer, Mr. Shemitz worked closely with architects. For the United Airlines terminal at O’Hare International Airport, for example, he collaborated with the architect Helmut Jahn to create a glowing glass shed intended as a modern take on a grand European rail station. His other major projects included the Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel, the Yale Law Library and the CN Tower in Toronto, one of the world’s tallest free-standing structures.
Mr. Shemitz held patents for major innovations in asymmetric lighting, used in the glowing glass “lenses” that draw sunlight into the galleries of Steven Holl’s recently opened addition at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.
This lighting, under the Elliptipar brand, was also featured in the reading rooms at the New York Public Library and the grand concourse of the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas.
The ambient office lighting Mr. Shemitz invented, known as Tambient, was used by companies like Crowley Maritime, 3M, I.B.M. and Bell Atlantic.
Born in New Haven in 1925, Mr. Shemitz graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, and was a fellow of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America. He was also a visiting lecturer at institutions including Yale, Princeton and the Rhode Island School of Design.
Mr. Shemitz’s second home was the sea. A Navy veteran of World War II and a yacht racer, he competed in the Newport-Bermuda race 12 times and navigated through numerous races on Long Island Sound.
He is survived by his wife, Paula; his daughters, Julie Shemitz of Valley Village, Calif.; Allison Schieffelin of New Haven; and Elizabeth Shemitz-Smith of Tampa, Fla.; and two granddaughters.
In an interview about the blue filtered tints and magentas he designed to accent Grand Central in 1991, Mr. Shemitz said, “I think the most important issue is to make New York a lively, friendly and joyful place.”
