An all-star athlete and one of UC Riverside’s first Black students, Edward James Blakely went on to become an internationally acclaimed expert in urban planning, public policy, and disaster recovery.

Family, friends, dignitaries and community members celebrated his life and legacy at a memorial service Feb. 7 at UCR’s Alumni and Visitors Center.

Blakely, an emeritus professor of urban planning at UC Berkeley, died Sept. 6 at his home in Sydney, Australia, at the age of 87.

“His legacy of public service and scholarship remains a model and inspiration for future generations of urban planning practitioners and scholars,” said Robert Nava, vice president emeritus at Cal State San Bernardino, who served as emcee at the memorial. “He will be remembered not just as a world-renowned academic, but as a policy trailblazer who never forgot his Inland Empire roots.”

Born and raised in San Bernadino, Blakely played on the UCR football, basketball, track and field, and rugby teams. He was team captain and quarterback of the football team during the 1958 and 1959 seasons and is in the UCR Athletics Hall of Fame.

Blakely graduated from UCR in 1960 and went on to receive his master’s degree from UC Berkeley and his doctorate from UCLA.

He wrote influential books in the field of urban planning and served as an advisor to government agencies following natural disasters including Oakland after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Internationally, he advised governments in Japan, Turkey, Chile, Honduras, and Indonesia.

“Dr. Blakely was an effective visionary who could speak in a direct and powerful manner about complicated issues,” said David Oglesby, a professor of geophysics at UCR. “He helped to formulate the idea of a systemwide educational initiative that would train the leaders of tomorrow to address foundational problems and empower them to make a difference.”