Goodbye Buzz!
I have been trying to think of stories about Buzz that can be told in mixed company and in front of more than four people, but I can’t think of any. He often made me laugh until my cheeks hurt and at times, made me cry, although there was no crying at work.
He hired me fresh out of Berkeley at a time when there were few professional women in the industry. He was my mentor, a champion, a taskmaster, a perfectionist, a father, a brilliant, lovable and charismatic man. His joie de vivre was infectious and you couldn’t help standing taller because of him. His encouragement made me a professional and his departure leaves a big gap in the world. Buzz goodbye, I love you and I will miss you.
Goodbye from Sharon Dalrymple
Where to begin? I worked for Buzz longer than anyone else, dating back to 1967 at ERA, moving later to HPC, and continuing through his retirement in 2000. Those 33 years were an adventure like no other. Our professional travels took us all across this country and to foreign locales as disparate as Cairo and Melbourne. Together, we gingerly walked the land-mined beaches of the Red Sea under military escort, got temporarily stranded in the north woods of Minnesota on a frigid winter night when our rental car broke down, and spent eight hours staked out in the crowded, grimy baggage claim at Mexico City International waiting for our misrouted luggage to show up. And those were the fun times (just kidding!).
Demanding, cantankerous, bawdy, cagey, witty, genial, smart as a whip, lovable–Buzz was all of those things and more. Most of all, he was a gold-standard mentor and, ultimately, a very dear friend. When we returned from a business trip and parted company at the airport, our traditional farewell was, “Vaya con Dios.” So I say this one last time with heavy heart, “Vaya con Dios, amigo.” And by the way, Buzz, you still owe me a double martini for sweet-talking the airport cops in Jacksonville into letting me park in the red zone long enough to deliver the wallet you accidentally left in your hotel room. Stoli, very cold, two olives.
Shari Dalrymple
Former Senior VP, HPC
I knew Buzz for over 45 years as I worked at ERA from 1964 to 1967. I deeply admired much about Buzz not the least of which was that in what is now a 50-year career I never worked anywhere with a better worth ethic and a higher standard of good work than the ERA of the mid ’60’s. As head of my own company for many years I now realize how much of that was ultimately an expression of Buzz’s values. Yes he was a difficult and sometimes arbitrary boss. He underpaid me and then, in typical Buzz fashion, acted betrayed when I left to join a client at twice the salary. He accused me of “selling out” and refused to see the connection between that and the fact that I got no bonus because I did not generate profit billings.
He was in retrospect even more than at the time a valuable mentor and model.
The real estate consulting world is less in a very real way for his departure.
Buzz, may heaven be the ultimate theme park!
Allan
Buzz will be mised by the industry of the entertainment world and by the old consulting types like me , a beneficiary of a great deal of the work performed by ERA and Buzz Price as a consultant/advisor in later years.Many Rouse company projects were assisted by the insight and knowledge developed by Buzz Price as the science of the retail/entertainment industry,such as Fanueil Hall, South Street Seaport, Gallery at Market East, many others.
A good friend and an incredible up personality.
May Buzz/Harrison Price rest in peace .
Ruben A Roca
Over the many years that I had the privilege to know and work with Buzz on a wide variety of project, sometimes as the project “prime” consultant for projects driven by my discipline as a designer of Cultural Attractions and sometimes inversely, as a sub-consultant to HPC, there was never a moment when I wasn’t aware I was in the company of a legend. Even when the heavy lifting on a given study was being handled by one of his excellent project managers, his imprimatur and personality were always close by.
His presence was dominating, instructive, irreverent and joyful. His passing illuminates the myriad memorable moments that all of us experienced in the course of one or another project. Individually we all have our special memories, collectively they are voluminous. He was the Yogi Berra of Recreation Economics and the Delphic Oracle of Attractions Design; and most of all, he was a unique human being that enriched all with whom he came into contact.
Wherever his ongoing journey make take him, you can be sure he’s checking the demographics, measuring the available audience and calculating the visitor potential.
Bon voyage, Buzz
Barry Howard
Buzz electrified his audience and I was completely captivated when I first heard him speak 20 years ago.
I knew we needed him to help downtown Napa dream bigger than it had ever dreamed and become what it is today, the heart of the Napa Valley, connected by the river that runs through it. Buzz was the funny, brilliant, and often times crusty voice of reason in the early 90’s that led local leaders to think outside the box with an economic reality clearly behind every great idea.
I loved him madly, will miss him so much, and will never forget him or forget what he brought to every person, project and passion he touched.
Buzz…. You were loved by millions and missed very much! Thanks for being YOU….
Dorothy Lind Salmon
Unfortunately, I did not know this until today [5/3/2011], so I’m a bit late in adding my condolences to one and all. In Finnegan’s Wake, James Joyce wrote “They lived, they laughed and they left.” Yes, and the world will not be the same without Buzz. I met him after I came to the Smithsonian in 1978, he taught me more about audiences than anyone before or since. All of the above acolades describe Buzz.
ps Shari: How can I contact you? My work email is doeringz@si.edu