Raymond “Skipper” Post, FAIA, honored with 2025 Edward C. Kemper Award

Post’s entry into the profession was anything but routine. Upon graduating from Texas A&M in 1963, he began work in his father’s firm, following in his architectural footsteps. The following year, his father was killed in a car accident, leaving Post with no father, no job, and a widowed mother. After receiving an offer from another local firm in Louisiana, Post recognized an urgency to get more involved in architectural practice and, notably, AIA. His parents’ proclivity for civic responsibility also encouraged him to engage his community as a means to teach its leaders about the value of good design.  

By the mid-1960s, Post ran for AIA offices and for seats on the boards of a number of community organizations, including the Camp Fire Girls Council, the Speech and Hearing Clinic, and the Round Table Civic Club. His leadership in AIA began in 1968, when he was elected secretary-treasurer of AIA Baton Rouge. Now, after six decades, Post has served in nearly every local and national AIA office, including the AIA College of Fellows and the Council of Former Presidents.  

Post entered into AIA National Leadership in the early 1980s, when he was appointed to chair the American Architecture Foundation Minority Scholarship Program and to serve on the Convention Credentials Committee. Later, he served on AIA’s board of directors as a representative for the Gulf States Region. In total, Post’s AIA duties in the 1990s surpassed 30 appointments at all levels of the organization. Among the most consequential was his service as AIA’s president in 1996. When he stepped into the role, Post inherited a multimillion-dollar deficit. At the end of his term, that deficit had been erased.  

Throughout his presidency, Post’s focus was AIA members, and he engaged with them through monthly newsletter articles and personal outreach through the board of directors. Recognizing the board members were a lifeline to members across the country, Post carefully considered their insight, without judgment, until all positions were aired. He empowered the board, through its differing perspectives, to forge a new dynamic in which all members had a clear voice.  

In 2014, a number of former AIA presidents and chancellors convinced Post to run for office in the College of Fellows. As he journeyed through positions in the college’s executive leadership, culminating in chancellor in 2018, he became chancellor and urged the college to complete a full review of its financial stability, explore best practices for developing donors, and maximize grant funding resources. As chancellor, he fulfilled the college’s primary goals of working with emerging architects through programs such as 2+2, the Young Architects Forum, and the Latrobe Prize, the college’s $60,000 annual grant for research projects with practical application for the profession.  

“Post has balanced his dedication to excellence in design, maintaining a productive office while supporting and enriching the lives of his staff, with a parallel commitment to AIA at all levels and community service,” wrote 1991 AIA President, past Kemper Award Winner, and former College of Fellows Chancellor C. James Lawler, FAIA, in nominating Post. “The community is enriched with his buildings and has been shown the value an Architect can provide in local leadership.”