Cares, Charles W.

Charles William Cares, Jr. was born on October 29, 1918, in Meadville, Pennsylvania. "He spent his childhood in Cleveland, Ohio, where his love of plants and agriculture was fostered by working on the family farm and in his mother's flower shops."[1] He received his Bachelor of Art degree from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania in 1939, his Bachelor of Science degree in Landscape Architecture from Michigan State University in 1950, and a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from Harvard University in 1958. Following his graduation from Allegheny College, he managed a family florist business in Cleveland for two years. He joined the U.S. Navy from 1941 to 1946, and for the next two years he was a partner at a sporting goods store in Meadville, Pennsylvania. "In 1950, he joined the landscape architecture firm of Ralph E. Griswold and Associates in Pittsburgh."[2] He also served as an associate professor of landscape architecture at Cornell University beginning in 1951, in the Department of Floriculture and Ornamental Horticulture. His major project there was organizing the "planting and site plans for the freshmen dormitory group at Ithaca College."[3] Much of his earlier work is located in central New York State.

Cares joined the University of Michigan as an associate professor of landscape architecture in 1959. In 1964, he was promoted to professor, and in 1969 was appointed chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture. The professional organizations which Cares was a member of included the American Society of Landscape Architects, the American Institute of Architects, and the Michigan Academy of Arts and Sciences. "He was also the Michigan liaison for the National Chair for Historic Preservation, and a registered landscape architect in the states of New York and Michigan."[4] He also participated in private consulting, by providing landscape architecture services to organizations such as Ithaca College, the Reflection Riding Arboretum, the Sapelo Island Foundation, Wells College, and residential and public developments in Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania.[5] He was named Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture by the Regents of the University of Michigan upon his retirement from active faculty status in July 1986.

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