The Bridge Building, Nashville, TN
David O. Lose
1940 - 2017

David O. Lose

Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Lose was the son of Arthur and Dorothy Lose, the owners of a lawn-and-garden supply business. He earned a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture in 1967 from North Carolina State University before joining the Louisville-based landscape architecture firm Miller, Wihry & Lee. In 1968 the firm sent Lose to Nashville to open a branch office, where he oversaw its projects for more than ten years, including Gloucester Square, Cedar Hill Park, Riverfront Park (in collaboration with Sasaki Associates), and the Big South Fork National River and Recreational Area. In 1982 Lose left Miller, Wihry & Lee to start his own firm, Lose & Associates (now Lose Design), which specialized in park planning. Under his direction, the firm executed more than 600 projects encompassing all aspects of the planning process, from design to system-wide analysis. As the firm grew, it expanded its services to include architecture, civil engineering, and land planning. Among its projects in Tennessee were the Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores Corporate Headquarters in Lebanon, Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, and the Stones River Greenway and The Bridge Building (Riverfront Landing), both in Nashville. In collaboration with the National Park Service, Lose also drafted master plans for the Shiloh National Military Park and Stones River National Battlefield, also in Tennessee. Lose was named a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architecture in 1992. He died unexpectedly at the age of 77 while vacationing in Cork, Ireland.