Work begat work throughout Ron Sims' architectural career, and while his design DNA is intertwined in some of Spokane's most recognizable structures, he reflects as fondly on the relationships formed during his 40-year career as he does the resulting projects.

Even so, the list of projects he designed, helped design, or oversaw is an impressive portfolio: the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, Riverfront Park, The Spokesman-Review tower modernization, Shriners Spokane children's hospital, Gonzaga University's Kennedy Pavilion (later renamed the Martin Center), the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library at Eastern Washington University, and the Spokane Valley YMCA, among others.

"This firm has built its reputation on doing quality design and developing quality relationships that lead to more work," says Sims, now 89. "When I was active, we were doing good design, but we weren't getting a lot of (American Institute of Architects) awards. Service to the client always came first."

The firm Sims refers to is ALSC Architects PS, and the S in the company name stands for Sims. He was one of the early partners in what has become one of the largest Spokane-based architecture firms, with 46 employees, six principals, and expertise in interior design and landscape architecture, in addition to architecture. 

And while the firm garners its share of accolades these days, ALSC's current CEO Indy Dehal says the firm still prides itself on preserving relationships with clients, some of which have remained intact for decades. Last year, Dehal says, repeat clients accounted for 84% of the firm's workload. 

"That has been a big part of our success," Dehal says. "And it's never possessive. It's not my client. It's the firm's client."

Born in Coeur d'Alene and raised in Spokane, Sims first became interested in architecture during his freshman year at Lewis & Clark High School, when he took an architectural drafting class.

He attended what was then Washington State College—now Washington State University—and graduated with a degree in architectural engineering. 

Returning to his hometown, Sims landed his first job with renowned Spokane architect Warren C. Heylman, known for designing the Riverfalls Tower and the Parkade Plaza parking garage developments. In just under two years, he moved to McClure & Adkison, Architects.

Early in his career, he faced a significant decision when the firm's principals, Royal McClure and Tom Adkison, decided to part ways, a move that seemingly came out of nowhere to the firm's employees. McClure took most of the firm's work and moved to Seattle. Adkison was staying behind with staff and rebuilding that book of business. Sims had the option of moving to Seattle with McClure or staying in Spokane with Adkison. Having just bought a house and with a wife and two young children at home, he stayed.

"You know, in your life and career, there are times when a decision has to be made, and when these points in time have come up, I've been pretty happy with the decisions I've made," Sims says. 

Much of his early work involved school design. He handled the architectural drawings for the aforementioned Kennedy Pavilion at Gonzaga, which was the beginning of a 60-year relationship between the firm and private Jesuit school that remains intact today; ALSC, for example, handled the design on the recently completed, $10 million modernization of the Patterson Baseball Complex on the Gonzaga campus. 

In addition, they landed projects at Whitman College, in Walla Walla, Washington, and small school districts elsewhere in Eastern Washington early on. 

In 1973, Adkison made Sims a partner in the firm, along with John Leigh and Bob Cuppage. It was known as Adkison Leigh Sims Cuppage Architects for its first 15 years, before shortening to its present name in the late 1980s. 

While Adkison kept a majority stake in the firm, he had his eye on the future by bringing on the minority partners. Sims recalls his mentor describing a vision in the early '70s "to establish an organization here, nothing like what it is now" with a firm that would transcend the new partnership and bring on new, talented architects who would eventually become partners themselves. 

"He said, 'The firm will continue after I'm gone and you guys are out of here,'" Sims recalls. "It's been very successful in that regard."

Sims became president of the firm in 1986, after Adkison died, and led it until his retirement in 2000.

The last project on which Sims served as principal in charge involved the renovation of the old Spokane Coliseum, which at the time was referred to glibly around town as the Boone Street Barn. ALSC had to partner with a national firm with experience in stadium work to land the project to design the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. After that project, however, ALSC landed the renovation of Martin Stadium, at WSU, and the McCarthey Athletic Center, at Gonzaga. Now, it handles such projects without a national partner.

Dehal says, "We became a subject-matter expert. I don't know that you'd expect a Spokane firm to do that type of work, but we're happy to have it."

Business Development

Early in his career, Sims recalls a day when Adkison sent him to Pullman to see if there was any work at his alma mater. He met with a few people at WSU, and the firm began landing interviews for campus projects. 

"That started getting me into marketing and business development side of the business, and that became more of my activity as time passed," he says. 

Terri McRae, who started work at ALSC in 1982 and eventually became its marketing director, worked with Sims for 18 years and describes him as an unselfish person who excelled at marketing and business development, in addition to being a skilled architect. 

"He was so connected in the community that if something was going to happen, he would know about it ahead of time," says McRae, who now owns McRae Marketing + Design LLC. 

Part of that connection stemmed from his service in the Air National Guard and his community involvement. 

Wryly describing himself as a draft dodger, Sims signed up for the Air National Guard a couple of weeks before graduating college and was commissioned as an officer two years later. He served just short of 25 years and retired from the guard as a lieutenant colonel. 

While not directly related to Sims' service but influenced by it, ALSC would later become involved in the design of commissary and base exchanges at U.S. military installations nationwide. 

In addition to his military service, Sims was involved in community organizations. In her nomination of Sims for the Icons award, McRae writes, "In addition to his significant influence on Spokane's built environment, Ron demonstrated a lifelong altruistic commitment to our city by spending countless hours serving as a board member for groups such as the Spokane Symphony, Spokane Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Council, Spokane Park Board, Camp Fire, and the American Red Cross, among many others."

Dehal says that commitment to community remains a point of emphasis for the firm. 

"One of the biggest impacts from Tom to Ron to us is the community service," he says. 

And while the current CEO's career only briefly overlapped with the former partner's career, Dehal says he has appreciated how Sims has remained engaged with him and ALSC staff through the years. 

"He's cared about the firm long beyond his time here," Dehal says. "He still has a rapport with people in the office, and I really admire that."