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1. admin

   13 April 8:18 pm

   Here is a note I was forwarded from Dick Zweifel, Associate Dean of the Deparment of Architecture and Environmental Design at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where my father taught for 20 years. Eric

   To: CAED Faculty and Staff
   From: K. Richard Zweifel
   Conversation: Mike McDougall
   Subject: Mike McDougall

   Dear Colleagues,

   It is with deep sadness that I need to let you know of our friend and Emeritus Prof. Mike McDougall’s passing this past Sunday in San Francisco. Mike brought his extensive architectural and planning background to the CRP program as one of founding faculty in the early 1970’s, continuing to his retirement in 1992. I will pass along further information to you regarding services as soon as we know more.

   Sincerely,

   Dick

2. Richard Peterson

   29 April 4:51 am

   Richard Arvid Peterson April 27, 2007

   Where does one begin when someone like Mike makes his final exit. A standing ovation, of course.

   Michael and I co-taught a series of studios in city planning and urban design for over a decade, both of us retiring from CalPoly the same summer. It was an exceptional partnership for me, helping to focus my interest in planning education and the vital role that urban design training plays in preparing new generations of planners to assume various roles in both city and regional planning.

   My relationship grew beyond that of colleague, extending to a friendship that placed me on the edge of being family. I know that was true for many of us.

   Michael, superb in so many things that he accomplished, had to be admired. One of those things is that family of his. What crown jewels they all have become with Dawnna being that rare diamond in the collection. There, also, will always be the students whose life he touched in so many ways that went beyond formal academic learning.

   So, one can understand why when I learned Easter morning that Michael was gone, the following poem immediately came to mind:

   Funeral Blues

   Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
   Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
   Silence the pianos and with muffled drum,
   Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

   Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
   Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.
   Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
   Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

   He was my North, my South, my East and West,
   My working week and my Sunday rest,
   My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
   I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

   The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
   Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
   Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
   For nothing now can ever come to any good.

   — W. H.. Auden

   The power of the poem is the immediate and complete emptiness felt at the loss of Michael. Recognizing the fullness of his life, however, and the contributions he made to so many of us and the profession of which he was a part, makes one realize that the stars are still out there — one may have his name on it, that we are still blessed by the sun most mornings of the year, that the ocean continues to pulsate with life, and that the woods remain a sanctuary serving our individual journeys. Oh yes, there is much good yet to come, in part, because someone like Michael moved among us, sharing his inner riches with everyone and with the institutions that he loved.

3. Stephen Converse

   19 November 9:58 pm

   I wanted to pass along my memories of Mike to the McDougall Family. I knew Mike when he first arrived at Cal Poly in the 70’s. He was a great man and connected with me as a young student of architecture like no other. We often sat and enjoyed 7 Bouy Curry which had to be his favorite dish. He took the time to teach me how to make it which I still do for my family 30 years later. Mike also asked me to help him design and draw his home in San Luis Obispo which I gladely did for $200. I bought a guitar with the money and have it still. Mike was a difference maker.

   My Best Wishes,
   Steve Converse, AIA
   Class of 1976

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