{"id":907441,"date":"2026-05-22T08:12:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T13:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/22\/james-p-roubal-dlr-group-co-founder-and-integrated-design-firm-pioneer-dies-at-94\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T08:12:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T13:12:19","slug":"james-p-roubal-dlr-group-co-founder-and-integrated-design-firm-pioneer-dies-at-94","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/22\/james-p-roubal-dlr-group-co-founder-and-integrated-design-firm-pioneer-dies-at-94\/","title":{"rendered":"James P. Roubal, DLR Group Co-Founder and Integrated Design Firm Pioneer, Dies at 94"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo courtesy of DLR Group<\/p>\n

James “Jim” P. Roubal, a co-founder of DLR Group and an advocate for integrated design, died April 23 in Omaha at age 94.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n

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James \u201cJim\u201d P. Roubal, a co-founder and inaugural engineer of Omaha global integrated design firm DLR Group, died at 94 on April 23 in that city<\/p>\n

Roubal joined with architects Irving Dana and Bill Larson to form the AE in a 12- by 12-sq-ft basement in Omaha in 1966, with the now employee-owned firm since growing to more than 1,800 employees in 36 offices worldwide and reporting 2025 revenue of $536.8 million, ranking at No. 61 on ENR’s latest Top 500 Design Firms list.<\/p>\n

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Born in 1931 in Grand Island, Neb., and raised in Central City, Roubal earned a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Nebraska in 1953. He served as an officer in the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Corps from 1953 to 1955, with duties that included undercover investigation of construction sites in search of eavesdropping devices.<\/p>\n

After his military service and work for Mobil Oil in Kansas City, Mo., Roubal joined the Leo A. Daly Co.in 1957 as a mechanical engineer, where he met his future partners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DLR Group notes that Roubal worked to bring air conditioning to the Nebraska State Capitol in the early 1960s\u2014 developing a solution that used existing ventilation shafts to preserve its architecture while delivering high performance, the company notes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His other projects include headquarters for both Blue Cross Blue Shield and Physicians Mutual Insurance in Omaha, and Tekamah Elementary School, which was DLR Group\u2019s first official project and launched its work in K-12 education design, the company says.<\/p>\n

Marking its 60th<\/sup> anniversary on April 1, DLR Group says that Roubal\u2019s advocacy for engineering and integrated design is seen in other projects, including Ismaili Center in Houston, for which the company served as Architect and Engineer of Record, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, where it conducted a multi-phased transformation involving 13 in-house disciplines and services, and Baoshan Longer Beach Winder Tower Complex, a waterfront development in Shanghai, China for which DLR Group did master planning, architecture, landscape architecture and engineering.<\/p>\n

\u201cJim\u2019s emphasis on skilled craftsmanship, collaborative process, and thoughtful design will guide our people and shape projects of lasting impact for decades to come,\u201d says DLR Group CEO and Managing Principal Steve McKay. \u201cEmployee owners at our firm have a rich culture and legacy from which to draw inspiration, thanks to his vision and leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJim believed in this firm and what it could become,\u201d he adds. \u201cHis legacy will continue to live on through our design, our employee-owned culture and through each of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

After retiring from full-time active practice in the early 1990s, Roubal continued to contribute to DLR Group by serving in an informal mentoring role for decades, the company said..\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dana died in 1998 and Larson died in 2012.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Annemarie<\/a><\/p>\n

Annemarie Mannion is editor of ENR Midwest, which covers 11 states. She joined ENR in 2022 and reports from Chicago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Yuri Schildgen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo courtesy of DLR Group James “Jim” P. Roubal, a co-founder of DLR Group and an advocate for integrated design, died April 23 in Omaha at age 94. James \u201cJim\u201d P. Roubal, a co-founder and inaugural engineer of Omaha global integrated design firm DLR Group, died at 94 on April 23 in that city Roubal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":907442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1143,149652],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-907441","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-james","8":"category-roubal"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=907441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}