Hermann Wilfried Weis, 74, ‘he could see what needed to be and make it real'

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By Michelle E. Shaw

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

As a landscape architect, Hermann Weis could take the ordinary and make it beautiful, friends and family said. He could marry the sciences of engineering and the environment and create breathtaking spaces, small or large.

Special Hermann Weis, a landscape architect, helped design the landscape and training fields for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.

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“As an artist, he was in love with the natural world,” said his daughter, Kerstin Weis of Decatur. “He had a rare gift of second sight, he could see what needed to be and make it real.”

The designs Mr. Weis created for clients were not conventional or symmetrical, but expertly showcased his knowledge of landscape design, said friend and business associate Wick St. John, who lives in Gillsville, Ga.

“He knew what he was doing,” Mr. St. John said. “He had a creative input and signature that they could get nowhere else and he did a very high quality of work.”

Hermann Wilfried Weis, of Atlanta, died Jan. 23 at Piedmont Hospital from complications of prostate cancer. He was 74. His body was cremated and a memorial service will be held in the spring, most likely in a garden, his daughter said.

Mr. Weis, born in Wiesbaden, Germany, started his career in Berlin and Stuttgart after he earned a degree in landscape architecture. He came to the U.S. in 1969 and moved to Boston to join what was the design firm of Sasaki, Dawson & DeMay. He was married at the time, but got divorced in the 70s, his daughter said.

Mr. Weis also worked with a Munich-based firm and helped design the landscape and training fields for the Olympic village and venues of the 1972 games. His influence is also found in the design of the Beaver Creek Ski Resort in Colorado, a project he worked on with another firm.

Mr. Weis’ career also includes teaching at University of Oklahoma and time as an assistant professor of landscape architecture at the University of Georgia. In 1979, he moved to Atlanta to establish a private landscape practice.

“He was my mentor and my muse,” said Eric Datry, a former student and eventual collaborator, who lives in Decatur. “He was a brutally tough teacher, but with purpose. He felt his job was to see that his students produced their best work.”

Mr. Datry said there was an artistry to Mr. Weis’ work that could not be denied.

“His gardens were like mini ecosystems of perfection,” he said. “His designs made sense, the materials he put together actually went together, and there was nothing done on the cheap.”

Mr. Weis’ artistry even carried over into his personal life, his family said. He was an avid photographer and had a collection of photos that would rival most professionals, said June Pullen Weis, his wife of 12 years. He loved taking pictures at their cottage in Sewanee, Tenn., of the flowers and wildlife native to the area, she said.

Not long ago Mr. Weis picked out 20 of his favorite nature photos from Sewanee and framed them. Mrs. Weis suggested he show the pictures to a gallery owner not far from their home. He said no, that he’d planned to take them to Sewanee.

“Now it is a small cottage, and I wondered where he was going to put them, but I should have known he had a plan,” she said. “He always had a plan, and that is what made his work so beautiful.”

Mr. Weis is also survived by his son Holger Weis of Ft. Lauderdale; sister Rosemarie Weis-Doerfel of Wiesbaden, Germany; half-sister Heidi Stuffer of South Carolina; half-brother Christian Weis of New Jersey; stepdaughter Mary Livesay of Memphis; stepson Clay Pullen of Atlanta; and nine grandchildren.