Noted Lakewood Ranch architect dies at 68, 18 months after retiring

Doug Whitney, who died Aug. 11, designed some of Lakewood Ranch's most well-known buildings.

By Jay Heater
| 11:30 a.m. August 21, 2025
| 2 Free Articles Remaining!

River Club's Douglas Whitney, an architect for 43 years, always has loved drawing by hand. He is the only one in WBRC's Lakewood Ranch office to still have a drafting table.

Manatee-Sarasota

Besides being a master architect and a personable and caring man, Doug Whitney always seemed to know the right thing to say.

His partner for 20 years, Doug DuPouy, knew that better than anyone.

"I am the worrier," DuPouy says. "I would be worked up, and he would say, 'Give it to God, and go to sleep.'"

DuPouy would take the advice, and somehow, things always worked out.

On Aug. 11, Whitney died unexpectedly at the age of 68, leaving behind a huge void for DuPouy, and the many others whose lives he touched.

"He had a very big heart," DuPouy says. "He would do anything for anybody."

Whitney, who joined the WBRC architectural firm in 1980 in Bangor, Maine, retired from a 43-year architecture career Jan. 1, 2024. He had moved to Lakewood Ranch in 2002 to launch WBRC's Florida branch.

As he planned his retirement, after serving as the company's president and CEO from 2013-2022, Whitney wanted to buy a home in Maine.

“Retirement was never really a goal of mine, but I’m just getting to that point in time,” he said in a story in the East County Observer, sister paper of the Business Observer, in December 2023. “It would be nice to have time to do some things for myself. I’m looking forward to moving onto the next chapter and giving other people behind me a chance to move up.”

He found the right home in Eddington, Maine on the end of a two-mile dirt road, overlooking Chemo Pond.

"It has a magnificent view," DuPouy says. "We have 12 acres of frontage. That's where he wants me to scatter his ashes."

As much as he loved his native Maine, Whitney loved Lakewood Ranch.

"We still have a condo in Summerfield," DuPouy says. "He designed a lot of buildings here. He was very good at his job."

Under Whitney's leadership at WBRC, 1,823 projects were completed, including 617 under his direct supervision in the WBRC Florida branch. He designed buildings in 23 states.

"His contributions, from iconic designs to establishing our practice in Florida, were a huge part of our ongoing success. He was also a wonderful human being. To know Doug was to love him. He was generous, positive, loyal and full of creative energy. Doug has left an indelible mark on our company and the people who knew him," WBRC CEO Ray Bolduc says in a statement.

Laura Adcock, a principal architect for WBRC, presents a retirement gift to Douglas Whitney, who is retiring from WBRC after 43 years. The gift shows some of the license plates from states in which there are projects he's designed. — Laura Adcock, a principal architect for WBRC, presents a retirement gift to Douglas Whitney, who retired from WBRC after 43 years. The gift shows some of the license plates from states in which there are projects he's designed.

Whitney told the East County Observer in the 2023 story that his favorite building he designed in Lakewood Ranch was R.E. Crawford Construction’s headquarters in the Corporate Park. He says he had to think creatively to give the building character.

The R. E. Crawford Construction headquarters won the Grand Aurora Award, presented annually by the Southeast Building Conference and Florida Home Builders Association. It was named the Best Commercial Project in the under-20,000 square feet category in 2017.

Another favorite for Whitney was the design of the Tidewell Hospice House in Lakewood Ranch. It was one of the first hospice facilities designed specifically as an inpatient hospice house, and it had to be brought up to medical codes to run more like a hospital that is noncombustible and has all the same safety features as a regular hospital. WBRC now designs many of the hospice centers in Florida.

Beyond architecture and design, Whitney was revered by his co-workers at WBRC. Colleagues

Laura Adcock, Mauren Freire and Kevin Meserve, who all worked with Whitney in the Lakewood Ranch office, flew to Maine and stayed with DuPouy in advance of Whitney's celebration of life Aug. 19 at the Family Reception Center of Brookings-Smith in Bangor, Maine.

WBRC architect Douglas Whitney had free rein when it came to designing and adding character to the design of R.E. Crawford Construction headquarters.

While living in Lakewood Ranch, Dupouy says Whitney loved going to the beach, St. Armands Circle and the Wyland Galleries in Sarasota.

"He loved antiquing," Dupouy says. "And he collected toy soldiers. We had a four-car garage in the house in Maine. On the second floor were all these cabinets. They were all filled with toy soldiers."

Dupouy will see those soldiers, and think of his partner. He will hear his voice at night.

"Give it to God, and go to sleep."

"We were a united front," Dupouy says.

Dupouy says a decision has yet to be made whether to have a celebration of life in the Lakewood Ranch area after he returns in September. Condolences to the family can be posted at BrookingsSmith.com.

This article originally appeared on sister site YourObserver.com.

author

Jay Heater

Jay Heater is the managing editor of the East County Observer. Overall, he has been in the business more than 41 years, 26 spent at the Contra Costa Times in the San Francisco Bay area as a sportswriter covering college football and basketball, boxing and horse racing.