Bob S. Evenson
Board Member
Bob was born and raised in New York City by immigrant parents, Aina and Swen Evenson, who both came from Sweden separately as teenagers.
Aina Palmroth Evenson was born in Hammarland, Aland, an island cluster east of Stockholm, and west of Helsinki, Finland.
Swen Evenson was born and raised close to Hunnebostrand Sweden, a town on the west coast, north of Gothenburg.
Bob received his Bachelor of Architecture from Syracuse University in 1966 and a Master of Architecture from Harvard University in 1970. He moved to Portland in 1970 and worked briefly for Campbell/Yost/Grube before opening his own firm called Evenson / Lundgren / Larson / Monaghan in 1972. In 1984 the firm split up and Robert Evenson Associates was formed at that time.
Bob married Margaret Bledsoe in 1979 and they have two grown children, Emily and Andrew Evenson, both of whom live and work in Portland.
He continues to work as a commercial architect in Portland, but still finds plenty of time to play handball at the MAC, fish, travel and baby sit with Margaret for their grandchildren, Caroline and Connor.
Bob is Co-Chair of the NNW Facilities Committee, which oversees building additions, maintenance, and long-term planning.
If you could pick only one place in the Nordic countries to visit, where would it be?
Aland Island, my mother's farm. Although Aland is technically part of Finland, it remains Swedish speaking.
Favorite Nordic Food?
Herring, herrring, lox and more herring.