Stuart Stein was a professor of City and Regional Planning at Cornell University and was deeply involved in local community planning. Over the span of his career, Stein was at the center of Ithaca's downtown revitalization and tourism planning and held a number of elected and appointed positions. In the late 1960s, he and a group of colleagues developed the plan for the Ithaca Commons, which was completed in 1974. He was one of the first supporters of Historic Ithaca and even chaired HI's first organizational meeting in January 1967. During his years as chair of the New York State Board for Historic Preservation, he kept Historic Ithaca informed about developments and funding opportunities in the preservation field. Stein passed away in 2014 and is remembered by Historic Ithaca as a generous teacher, public servant, and preservation hero.
"Professor emeritus Stuart Stein dies at 84," Cornell Chronicle, June 27, 2014