Jacob G. Braun, IV, 66, of Tulsa, OK died peacefully at home on August 25, 2009, after a 10-month battle with cancer.  He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Martha Lou, son Jacob, daughter SoRelle and son-in-law Spencer G. Brown of Atlanta, sister Mrs. Newton G. Quantz, Jr., half-sister Kathy Ann White, and many loved ones.  He was born January 8, 1943, in New Orleans, and attended Sewanee Military Academy (TN, 1962).  Joe was a landscape architect who designed many of Tulsa's green spaces.  He earned a Bachelor's in Landscape Architecture from Louisiana State University (1968, Delta Kappa Epsilon), and a Master's of Landscape Architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (1971).  He and Lou married while at LSU, and lived in Boston and Vermont after college.  In Tulsa Joe founded the Jacob Braun Company, Inc.  He designed Tulsa's Gardens at Gilcrease Museum, Warren Place, and Harwelden; Myriad Gardens, Lincoln Boulevard, and Walker Avenue in Oklahoma City; as well as parks and building sites nationwide.  Joe advanced his profession as the organizer and first president of the Oklahoma Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, as a visiting lecturer at landscape architecture programs, and by serving on national boards of registration and university program accreditation.  He was formerly a member of the Tulsa Preservation Commission and of the Tulsa Arts Commission.  Above all, he was a loving husband, father, and friend whose smile and wit are unforgettable.  He was preceded in death by his mother Martha Brogan Braun, father Jacob G. Braun, III, and half-brothers Felix and Hubert.  Joe's memorial service will be held at 2:00 PM on Saturday, August 29, at Trinity Episcopal Church, with a reception following.  Information: Fitzgerald Ivy Chapel; memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society.

 

The above information was sent by Joe's daughter SoRelle.  For details on the memorial service and remembrances of Joe please see the following link:  www.jacobbraun.com

 

I began my friendship with Joe Braun on a train trip from New Orleans to Alexandria, LA with Rusty Barkerding and host of other "crazies" for a Deke rush party in the Summer of 1962.  Little did I know that this would begin a 47 year friendship with a guy who never failed to make me laugh every time I talked with him, which I'm sorry to say was not often enough.  Joe grew up next door to the Tau Lambda house on Henry Clay Avenue, so there was never any question that he would be a Deke.  We pledged Deke at LSU in the Fall of 1962 and were initiated together the following semester.  Joe's future wife Lou was in one of my freshman classes and I thought that she was a really cute girl and I risked asking her for a date, which she accepted.  I'm not real sure what she thought about the party at the DKE House that night, but it must not have made too bad of an impression on her.  Joe spotted her there and was immediately taken with her.  They started dating, became engaged and I had the pleasure of standing in their wedding, along with a few other "outlaws" from Joe's coterie of friends.  Benny Burnside, another DKE brother and I were reminiscing about Joe today on the phone and were laughing about spiking the punch served at the reception at the Baptist Church in Bossier City following the wedding.  Of course we were caught before we could do too much damage to the other guests, but Benny said that a former member of that congregation recently told him that our "wanted posters" remain in the basement of that church!  So thanks Joe, for being my friend and making my life richer for having known you.