Clarke Caton Hintz remembers Philip B. Caton, PP, FAICP


It is with profound grief that we announce the passing of one of the founding partners of Clarke Caton Hintz. Philip B. Caton, PP FAICP, passed away on February 8, 2023.

Phil’s illustrious career of more than 45 years encompassed master planning, urban design, redevelopment, and affordable housing. He was an expert in Transfer of Development Rights (TDR), New Jersey’s innovative tool to help municipalities foster smarter growth and land preservation, and he had been appointed by the New Jersey Superior Court as a special master in affordable housing matters involving more than 50 municipalities. He prepared redevelopment plans for some of New Jersey’s largest cities, including Trenton, Camden, Jersey City and Elizabeth, as well as preparing Master Plans for many more municipalities. In 2008, he was elected into the prestigious Fellowship of the American Institute of Certified Planners, helping to lead the planning field’s professional development organization.

In 1982, Phil joined John P. Clarke, FAIA, to found Clarke & Caton, later renamed Clarke Caton Hintz when Carl E. Hintz, PP AICP LLA ASLA, joined the firm. Under their leadership, the firm has grown into one of the region’s most diversified and innovative architecture and planning firms, with design specialties in higher education facilities and civic and cultural spaces, and with planning specialties in master planning, urban design, redevelopment, farmland preservation and affordable housing. Phil’s vision has made Clarke Caton Hintz into one of the few firms in the region able to provide a full suite of architecture, landscape architecture, planning, and urban design services under one roof. Phil excelled not just as a planner, but also as a policy maker and mentor. His enduring legacy is a New Jersey that is better designed, better planned, and more equitable, and a generation of planners and designers committed to furthering those ideals. We are all fortunate to be the beneficiaries of his expertise and wisdom, and we will miss him deeply. Our heartfelt sympathies go to his family, friends, professional colleagues, and all whose lives he touched.



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