http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/nation/story/914272p-6368593c.html

Acclaimed architect Michael Graves paralyzed by meningitis

The Associated Press
Last Updated 1:49 p.m. PDT Wednesday, June 11, 2003

PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) - Acclaimed architect and designer Michael Graves has meningitis that has left him paralyzed below the waist.

Graves contracted the disease in February and has been undergoing treatment at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. The illness evolved from an untreated sinus infection for which Graves, 68, delayed getting treatment because he was busy with work and thought he just had a bad cold.

Caroline Hancock, director of communications for the Princeton-based Michael Graves Architects firm, said he "has an absolutely normal life expectancy now. The prognosis is not much recovery in the nervous system but a totally healthy life otherwise."

Graves' progress depends on how his nervous system reacts to the therapy, and it is not known if the paralysis is permanent or which type of meningitis he contracted. When he does return to work, Hancock said he will have be in a wheelchair.

Graves was awarded the American Institute of Architects' highest honor, the Gold Medal, in 2001. His designs include the lighted scaffold used during the Washington Monument makeover and Disney World's Swan and Dolphin hotels in Florida. He also created the Alexander House in Princeton, a postmodern building with a curving glass wall.