John Calvin “Jack” Portman III, FAIA, a real estate developer and leader of the Atlanta–based firm Portman Architects has passed away at the age of 71 on Friday, Aug. 28. Following the death of his father, architect and John Portman & Associates (now Portman Architects) founder John C. Portman Jr., in 2017, Jack Portman assumed leadership of Portman Architects, and spent his tenure further expanding the firm's international presence.

Born on Nov. 3, 1948, in Atlanta, Jack Portman earned his B.Arch. from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and his M.Arch. from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. In 1979, he joined John Portman & Associates as an apprentice architect, traveling to Shanghai, Beijing, and Hangzhou to explore development opportunities in China. This led to the Shanghai Centre design and development, a project that, at the time of its completion in 1990, contained the tallest building in Shanghai.

In addition to his work in architecture, Jack Portman also served on the board of the Harvard GSD Dean’s Leadership Council and of the Georgia Tech China Foundation, and as a member of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Chancellor’s Global Leadership Council. He also worked to establish the John Portman Visiting Chair in Architecture, a visiting professorship at Harvard GSD in honor of his father.