It is with great sadness that we convey the passing of our beloved colleague and longtime friend Jennifer Barnes. She passed away on Saturday, March 5th at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
Close friend and colleague, CRTKL Principal Bill McCarthy shared that her death was both “peaceful and happy.” “The doctors and nurses kept her comfortable, and she was surrounded by her family and friends — many traveling from as far as Georgia, Tennessee and Illinois,” he shared. “All had the opportunity to share their love and happy memories. Even at the end, Jenn was bopping to her iTunes playlist and making jokes with her brothers and nieces.”
Jennifer grew up in Georgia, the youngest of five with two older sisters and brothers Karen, Jane, Mark and Richard.
She graduated from the Ringling School of Art and Design with a BFA in 1985. From there, she moved to Baltimore and began her extraordinary career as an interior design professional with CRTKL in September of 1993. By November of 2007, she had excelled to the Principal level. Towards the end of her career, she took a purposeful step back to spend more time with family and retired with the title of Associate Principal. With an emphasis on creating successful workplace environments that addressed her client’s unique and evolving needs, she developed creative solutions through strategic programming, space planning and interior architecture for government, corporate, academic and hospitality projects. She was a gifted communicator and strong collaborator, imparting her wisdom and kindness to colleagues and clients alike.
“Not only was Jenn a great work friend, but she also became a close personal friend,” said Kim Jennings, Associate Principal at CRTKL. “We worked together during most of our long careers at CRTKL, and over many late nights in the office, we really got to know and depend on each other. She was a good friend who touched many hearts. I will miss her terribly.”
She was the former president of the Baltimore International Interior Design Association (IIDA) and a frequent juror at the NeoCon conference in Chicago. She contributed to a number of publications on workplace design and strategy, with noted expertise on planning and programming and furniture strategy and procurement for outlets such as FMJ, The Leader and The Baltimore Business Journal.
“I loved her dearly. We had a loooooonnnnng relationship,” begins Mary Brooks, Senior Administrator at CRTKL. “She was kind. She was thoughtful. She was giving. But what I remember most about her was her massive wardrobe of fashionable and stylish clothes and footwear. I used to tease her about never wearing the same thing twice. Of course, she would deny it – and, over the years, it became a running joke between us when she wore something a second time. We used to have so much fun laughing with one another, I loved me some Jenn. And yes, she was fun to work with, too! The funny thing is, I’m now realizing just how much I have been feeling her absence since she left the firm. However, I’m so grateful that we stayed in touch — regardless of circumstance. Just this moment, I realized even when she was away, she has always been in my heart.”
Jennifer took great pride in every project she touched. She worked both nationally and internationally with corporate and public clients such as the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Lafayette College, the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and many more. Internationally, Jennifer worked on projects in the United Arab Emirates, Korea, Dubai and London. Some of her most prominent work was on the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC), T. Rowe Price’s Corporate Campus, the Highmark Data Center, the Defense Threat Reduction Center (DTRC), the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and the American Greetings Creative Studios and Headquarters.
“Jennifer was a wonderful colleague in our Baltimore office,” begins David Whitcomb, Senior Associate and photographer at CRTKL. “She mentored and started the careers of dozens of interior designers. She was positive, encouraging, caring and one of the most dignified people I have ever known. That was what struck me most about her when I shot her portraits – her sense of dignity. I remember, once, I was at a project site with her team, but she wasn’t around. Everyone there was just talking about how helpful she was and praising her as a mentor – and she’s their boss! Usually, once a group of people with the same boss are alone together, they’ll complain—but not Jennifer’s team. They loved her.”
The breadth of her project types demonstrates her range as an interior designer. Her work won numerous awards, including the Chief of Engineers Award of Excellence from the U.S Army Corps of Engineers for the National Ground Intelligence Center.
“Jennifer represented the model female leader,” says Marissa Tasho, Principal and Director of Marketing. “She was an amazing balance of strong yet graceful, direct but empathetic, with unwaveringly high expectations. When I first joined CRTKL, Jennifer was one of the few female Vice Presidents at the time. She was the type of leader who challenged you to always do better and, as a young professional, you respected her for it — and were always eager to please. I remember, years ago, she and I worked until the wee hours of the morning on draft after draft of our proposal submission for the American Greetings Headquarters. It was an opportunity that came to CRTKL only through Jennifer’s connections from her superb performance and client satisfaction on a prior project. We were behind — and the underdog at best. A herculean effort of all Jennifer’s longtime Baltimore colleagues — including Bill McCarthy, Lark Pfleegor and Frank Christian — the proposal and subsequent interview resulted in a win and one of CRTKL’s most iconic workplace projects. On a personal note, I will always remember sharing a love for shoes and handbags with Jennifer. Even after I moved to the DC office from Baltimore, she would send me the sale notifications and Thursday evening ladies’ shopping night notifications for local Fells Point favorite Poppy + Stella: the best shoe shopping in town.”
“Jennifer was an incredibly talented designer, but more than that, she was a caring friend,” begins Kim Heartwell, President and CEO of CRTKL. “We knew each other for many years, and she has always shown such thoughtfulness not only in her work, but in her life and her relationships. CRTKL would not be what it is today without the many contributions of Jennifer Barnes, and we will remember her in our hearts and in the many beautiful places she worked to create.”