Ieoh Ming Pei (1917-2019), better known as I.M. Pei, was one of the 20th century’s most prolific and renowned architects. Born in Guangzhou, he moved to America at age 18 to study architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, MIT, and Harvard. After graduating, he worked as a research scientist for the U.S. government during World War II and was later recruited by real estate developer William Zeckendorf. His work under Zeckendorf quickly transitioned into high profile projects, allowing him to found his own design firm in 1955. By 1960, he begin winning commissions for major independent projects.
His most notable works include the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, and the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar. In 1989, Pei completed his most famous work – the glass pyramid above the Louvre in Paris, controversial at the time but now one of the city’s most famous landmarks. His style combined modernism, cubism, and Islamic architecture, often utilizing glass and steel and sought after by art museums, corporations, and real estate developers alike.
Pei won nearly every architecture award around, including the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal, a lifetime achievement award from the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, and the Pritzker Prize, the highest honor a living architect can receive – he used his $100,000 prize money from the latter to start a scholarship fund for Chinese students wishing to study architecture in America. In 1992, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. On the morning of May 16th, I.M. Pei passed at his Manhattan home at the age of 102. Always striving to produce an “architecture of ideas” that would “stand the test of time,” Pei’s inspirational buildings and legacy will surely do just that.
贝聿铭（1917-2019），英文名Ieoh Ming Pei，更为人所知的是I.M. Pei，是20世纪最多产和最著名的建筑师之一。他出生于广州，18岁时移居美国，在宾夕法尼亚大学、麻省理工学院和哈佛大学学习建筑。毕业以后，他在第二次世界大战期间担任美国政府的研究科学家，后来被房地产开发商William Zeckendorf招募。他在Zeckendorf的工作项目很快受到瞩目，于是他在1955年创建了自己的设计公司。到了1960年，他开始赢得主要独立项目的委托合同。
他的著名作品包括约翰肯尼迪总统图书馆、华盛顿国家美术馆东馆和卡塔尔伊斯兰艺术博物馆。 1989年，贝先生完成了他最著名的作品——巴黎卢浮宫上方的玻璃金字塔，当时备受争议，但现在是该市最著名的地标之一。他的风格结合了现代主义、立体主义和伊斯兰建筑风格，时常使用玻璃和钢铁，并受到艺术博物馆、企业和房地产开发商的追捧。
贝聿铭几乎赢得了所有建筑界奖项，包括美国建筑师协会金奖、Cooper Hewitt国家设计博物馆的终身成就奖和普利兹克奖，而普利兹克奖是仍健在的建筑师能够获得的最高荣誉——他用这个奖项的10万美元奖金启动了一个奖学金项目，给希望在美国学习建筑的中国学生开设奖学金。1992年，他被授予总统自由勋章。2019年5月16日上午，贝老先生在曼哈顿的家中过世，享年102岁。他的一生总是努力创造一种”经得起时间考验”的“建筑理念”，他的那些鼓舞人心的建筑作品和遗产毫无疑问地证明了这一点。
Countdown to the TCS NYC Marathon on November 3, 2019: 216 Days.
2019年是美国第一条横贯大陆铁路建成150周年，为了纪念第一批华人来美建设这条铁路所做出的巨大贡献， MOCA将其2019 TCS NYC Marathon的活动命名为 MOCA Spike 150 – Running Forward With Our Stories！ 鼓励大家通过马拉松公益跑，全国线上接力，以及一天一个故事的方式讲述150个华人的历史故事，敬请大家持续关注， 讲出华人自己的故事，回顾过去，立足现在，展望未来，共同书写美国历史，使之更加充实完整。