Top Story
Announcing the Center For Leadership Class of 2024!
Members will meet for their first program day on September 21, 2023 for events and discussions planned around DFW in Context!
September 27, 2023
Beloved ULI Member and Education Leader, John Brooks, passed away on September 9, 2023. We dedicate this page to John and the heartfelt work he did to support and encourage ULI’s mission in creating and sustaining land use that is equitable, innovative, and sustainable.
John was UrbanPlan Chair at the ULI Dallas-Fort Worth District Council from 2019 – 2022. He also served on ULI Dallas-Fort Worth Technical Assistance Panels. John had a passion for teaching and creating an environment where everyone had opportunity.
John Preston Brooks, 65, passed away on September 9, 2023, after a short battle with pancreatic cancer.
He was a proud graduate of Texas A&M where he earned a degree in architecture which served him well, later becoming an award-winning architect. He was an avid caver and turned his love of caves into art which graces the covers of multiple publications.
John met his wife, Jill Buffington Brooks, in 2008 and they married two years later. He and Jill created a wonderful life together and squeezed in as many memories as possible with adventures near and far.
Please click on the photo leave a memory on the obituary.
Someone who cared – John Brooks
I was very fortunate to get to know John through our volunteer efforts on the ULI Education Committee. Although both of us had other ULI interests the Education Committee and UrbanPlan was our passion. John worked tirelessly and selflessly to promote the education initiatives of ULI. As an architect he always had a more creative perspective to the problems and opportunities that we faced as volunteers. I am quite certain in his family and professional life he exhibited the same traits. John’s passing will leave a void in a lot of lives and that can certainly be said of his ULI family.
John will be missed.
Our prayers go out to his wife Jill and family.
A talented architect who distinguished himself by designing dynamic K-12 environments, John heightened his profound impact on next-generation leaders through his tireless service to ULI’s UrbanPlan program. A natural educator and mentor, John’s big-hearted approach to working with students made him a favorite in the classroom. I am personally grateful to John for continually reminding me as a volunteer to keep our mission and beneficiaries front of mind, especially as we responded to challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the demanding but exciting growth of our UrbanPlan program across North Texas. John’s legacy of learning endures.
Don’t have an account? Sign up for a ULI guest account.