Walter Stallard Langsford III was born August 24, 1935 in Boston, Kentucky, lived his adult life in New York City, and died of brain cancer November 11, 2019 in Sheffield, Mass. He attended Western Kentucky University and worked on the inaugural production of “The Stephen Foster Story” before moving to New York City.
In the 1960s and early 1970s he operated the avant-garde Charles Theater, which was the first commercial showcase for independent films. He founded the 10th Street Project, a failed attempt to provide low income housing on the Lower East Side. He later worked for interracial housing developer Morris Milgram and then for the construction firm of Humphreys and Harding, in New York City.
Notable projects include Central Park Children’s Zoo, the historic restoration of Marx Hall and other buildings at Princeton University and the Congo Exhibit Gorilla Enclosure at the New York Zoological Gardens.
He is survived by his partner of 35 years, Janet Cooper, and his three children: Jennifer Greenman, Hatti Langsford and Walter Langsford IV; three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
A celebration of his life will be held at the Old Kentucky Home State Park Ballroom, Bardstown, Kentucky, on January 13, 2020 at 11:30 a.m.
