Ann Elizabeth Tyler Fathy

Ann Tyler was born August 22, 1932, in Columbus Ohio, to educator Ralph W Tyler Sr. and his first wife, actress and aspiring writer Flora Tyler (nee Volz). Ann was the youngest of three children, preceded in life (and death) by her sister Helen Tyler Parisi, later of Chicago, IL, and brother Ralph W Tyler Jr., later of New York City.

Her family moved from place to place while she was growing up. Ann attended the University of Chicago Laboratory School in Hyde Park before moving to Washington D.C. with her mother. Ann attended the Sidwell Friends School in Washington DC, and after graduation in 1950 she spent a year at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. She later attended the University of Chicago where she received her AB in 1956.

Ann’s mother had loved to travel, taking the younger children (and especially Ann) on cross-Atlantic trips to Europe. Ann “spent her 20s in Paris in the ‘50s,” and regarded that as the best time of her life. She regularly returned to Paris, holding it her favorite place to live.

Ann lived in Paris during the Algerian war for independence (1954-1962) which she “wholeheartedly supported”. She returned to Chicago to attend the Illinois Institute of Technology and received an MS in City and Regional Planning in 1962 with the intent of helping Algeria after they got their independence.

She was hired by the Algerian Ministry of Public Works “but was never able to accomplish what I had hoped”. She met her husband, the Egyptian architect Aziz Fathy, there. They had one son, Narmar, named for an early Egyptian pharoah. They departed just as the Ben Bella government was overthrown and moved to Tripoli, Libya, where Aziz set up an architectural practice. Two years later they were forced to leave because of the Six Day War and moved to NY. They later moved to the Silvergate neighborhood of Point Loma, while Ann worked for San Diego County Planning and Development Services until retirement more than 20 years later. Narmar passed away unexpectedly in 1989 and eventually the two divorced amicably.

When Ann was 60, she developed rectal cancer, and lived 30-plus years thereafter with an ileostomy bag. This did not slow her down, or change her sunny and outgoing disposition. She lived post-divorce in a succession of condominiums and apartments in downtown San Diego and Little Italy.

Ann attended University of San Diego where she studied for and passed the Law exam in 1988, and worked as a pro bono attorney for dispossessed and homeless San Diegans. She was a member of the San Diego YIMBY and California YIMBY groups, politically active to promote affordable housing. Ann had a long love of ocean cruises, meeting new people and visiting cities that she could learn from; she regularly updated her family and friends with her cruise notes and photographs.

Medical complications eventually slowed her down at age 90 or so. (Aziz passed away about this time.) She was planning a half-year ocean voyage including both northern and southern polar regions when it became evident that her body was not up to the task. After a short stint in a retirement home, Ann moved to her last apartment. She passed away peacefully at home at age 92, as she had desired, after days of visits from family and friends.

Ann was a staunch believer in improving the welfare of individuals (especially the homeless) and the quality of urban life (for everyone). After her (first) retirement, she lived the life of a boulevardier in downtown San Diego, walking everywhere she could, dining with friends al fresco, keeping up on the news in France as well as locally, and sharing information and wisdom with her world-wide network of friends. “I just love life, love human beings and have a lot of curiosity.”

In addition to those friends (and included among them), Ann leaves two nephews and four nieces—and their spouses and children—in New York, Michigan, Massachusetts, Chicago and San Diego.

In accordance with her wishes, Ann was cremated and her ashes will be spread at sea. In lieu of flowers, well-wishers may donate to the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (https://action.aclu.org) in her memory.