Don Graham graduated from McGill University and then worked for several years in Ottawa with the Federal District Commission (now the NCC). As his interest in the field of landscape architecture grew, he left to attend the Harvard graduate school of design. He returned to Ottawa and his NCC job in 1958.
Six years later, he established D.W.Graham and Associates Limited, Landscape Architects, in Ottawa. A broad spectrum of projects realised by his firm included projects such as Garden of the Provinces in Ottawa, Ile Notre Dame and the Canadian pavilion at Expo 67, Mirabel Airport, Sparks Street Mall (1965), and Westmount Square in Montreal.
He was also a teacher, eventually developing an undergraduate program Landscape Major / within the Renewable Resources Department at McGill University and maintaining a ‘professorship’ for a number of years in the early eighties.
Don eventually returned to the NCC where he collaborated and advised on various civic projects for a number of years. He left public service in the late 1980s to work in consulting again, including challenging international work, particularly in India and Nepal.
Eventually he retired and moved near Iroquois, Ontario, on the St. Lawrence River. There, he established the DIAMONDS Land Trust through which he successfully orchestrated agreements to preserve public access to the shoreline and natural areas and promoted the idea of creating an emerald necklace of greenspaces along the South Dundas riverfront for the benefit the community.
He was past president of the CSLA, founding member of the AAPQ and worked, along with his colleagues from across the country, to found, foster and further the Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation between 1978 and 1988.
Donald Graham passed away on Nov. 4, 2017.
Read "Landscape Magic: A Tribute to Landscape Architect Don Graham" by Wendy Graham