Michael John Brooks

MICHAEL J. BROOKS HELPED SHAPE DOZENS OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SEATTLE AREA SPACES

It is often said that “you can’t please everyone,” but Michael J. Brooks, a landscape architect whose work can be seen throughout the Seattle area, frequently defied that expectation. From helping design meeting tents for Hajj (the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia), to helping negotiate workable and culturally sensitive design solutions for major public and private spaces in the Washington D.C. area, Florida, Paris, Shanghai, Germany and his home town of Seattle, Brooks perfected the art of finding creative answers to meet the needs and overcome the concerns of people affected by his projects.

Brooks died January 14 of complications of Alzheimer’s Disease. He was 82.

Among his notable local projects were the Piper’s Creek salmon run at Carkeek, Snoqualmie Ridge Golf Course (with Jack Nicholson), the exclusive Aldarra Farms Golf Club (with Arnold Palmer) and Commodore Park, on the south side of Hiram Chittenden Locks, which garnered the most design awards of any Seattle park at the time. In the ‘60’s/’70’s Brooks also developed the concepts and drew the Master Plans for the thirty square miles of the East Sammamish Plateau, including public parks at both Beaver Lake and Pine Lake and the Master plan of the Klahanie Master-Planned Community in King County, WA, with over 3,000 units on 1,000 acres.

Brooks grew up in Modesto, CA and received a full scholarship to UC Berkeley, where he earned a Landscape Architecture degree in 1964. He soon moved with his first wife and family to the Seattle area, they later divorced.. In 1973 he married Linda King, a banker-turned-artist with whom he spent the last 52 years of his life. Together they were an artistic & creative dynamo.

Fifteen years into his career, Brooks fulfilled his goal to earn a master’s degree in landscape architecture at Harvard, graduating with honors in 1979. He subsequently worked with top firms and developers in San Francisco and the Washington D.C. area. Brooks returned to Seattle in 1993 and worked w/Loew Enterprises, then WA Holding until 2010. His last project spanned four years developing the Master Plans for what is now Tehaleh, in Pierce County, WA.

In addition to his wife Linda Brooks, Brooks is survived by his two brothers, Steven of Sacramento, CA) and David of Modesto, CA; his son, Dean Samuel (Andrea Rutz) and their three daughters, Kyrie, Ashae, and Taio of Hornby Island, B.C.; and daughter Alena Mountford (Martin) and their daughters Elsie and Kate, of Salt Spring Island, B.C.

“Celebration of Life": Wednesday, March 19, 2025 2pm – 4:40pm

Ray’s Northwest Room 6049 Seaview Avenue NW Seattle 98107

(The building on the NW corner of the parking lot)

Donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association or Union Gospel Mission