Gilbert B. Wheless, Jr. is a landscape architect who grew up in Durham, North Carolina. He graduated from Durham High School in 1960 and entered the School of Design (now College of Design) at North Carolina State University in 1961. In 1962, he began to focus on landscape architecture and studied under Lewis Clarke and Richard Moore, who advocated an ecological approach to landscape design. At that time Moore was head of the landscape architecture department. While attending school, Wheless worked for Lewis Clarke and was a member of NC State Student Chapter of American Society of Landscape Architects. In his senior year he was recruited for work by A.E. Bye, for whom he worked one-and-a-half years.
Beginning in 1968 Wheless began working with landscape architect Donald Ferlow, and in 1970 he, Ferlow, and John Soluri became founding principals of Environmental Design Associates, PC (EDA). Originally located in Stamford, Connecticut, EDA later moved to nearby New Canaan and finally to Wilton. The firm created designs for private residences, pools, corporate site developments, hospitals, colleges and universities, shopping centers, religious and recreational facilities, and other public development projects. EDA provided landscape architectural services to various architectural and engineering firms that included J. Robert Hillier (The Hillier Group), Fletcher-Thompson, Inc, and The Grad Partnership. In the 2009, Wheless retired from the firm and returned to Durham.
From the guide to the Gil Wheless Papers, 1960-2009, (Special Collections Research Center)
