Architect Speer dead at 83; son of Hitler favorite

BERLIN — German architect and city planner Albert Speer Jr., who spent his life in the long shadow of his Nazi father, has died.

Speer, the son of Adolf Hitler’s favorite architect, died late Friday at age 83.

Speer suffered a fall Thursday in his Frankfurt apartment, the German newspaper Bild reported.

Speer devoted his career to environmentally friendly city planning through such things as space minimization and energy-efficient designs.

In 1964 he set up a practice for town planning and architecture in Frankfurt, which won many prizes and led to project after project.

The elder Speer, who designed Hitler’s grandiose Nazi Party rally grounds in Nuremberg and was also armaments minister, was sentenced to 20 years in prison after the war.

Speer’s grandfather and great-grandfather were also architects.