BUCHANAN, SARAH July 1, 1934 – June 10, 2021 (formerly Sally DuBois) With sadness, Sarah’s family announces her passing, on June 10, 2021, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with her family at her side. Daughter of Sarah Wood Buchanan and George Eugene Buchanan, she was born July 1, 1934 in Bryn Mawr, PA. Sarah grew up in Westfield, NJ and was a math major at Middlebury College. She pivoted to the Harvard Graduate School of Design at the age of 20 where she was one of a handful of women studying Architecture.
Sarah worked as an interior designer with her husband Macy DuBois in Toronto, and then returned to school, completing her March at Harvard in 1978. She worked at Moffat and Kinoshita Architects in Toronto before moving to New Haven, CT, to start Buchanan Associates Architects with her kid brother George. After retirement she moved to Halifax, NS, to be close to her daughter’s family and her grandchildren. Sarah is survived by her son Mark DuBois (of New York), daughter Lindsay DuBois (of Halifax), granddaughters Andrea and Sofia Luques and her daughter-in-law and son-in-law Mara Manus and Daniel Luques. She had an especially close relationship with her brother George, who predeceased her in 2019, and his family of Branford, CT, including sister-in-law Josephine Buchanan, and nieces Hilary Buchanan and Kate Chaston. Sarah loved words and wordplay, and took great delight in reciting favorite poetry and prose. She had a wry wit, and while she could be both shy and frugal, her warm heart was welcoming and generous. She was passionate about making cities livable and fostering civic engagement.
Over her lifetime she expressed these passions in activities as varied as: an interactive urban planning exhibit in the 1970’s; grassroots municipal politics in Toronto; celebrating women in architecture; and leading the New Haven chapter of the League of Women Voters. As an architect, her passions were expressed in her focus on bringing quality design to underserved clients. Sarah was also a serial renovator, creating inviting, warm and very personal homes for herself in Toronto, New Haven and Halifax.
The family is deeply grateful to the staff at Parkland at the Gardens for their wonderful care of Sarah in her final years. In lieu of flowers, please donate to one of Sarah’s preferred causes: Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, or the League of Women Voters.