Clifford Tuttle, senior vice president of ForrestPerkins in San Francisco, passed away on Tuesday, May 20th from cancer. He died surrounded by his family.
A scholarship has been setup to honor Cliff and his contribution to the hospitality industry. NEWH will be awarding a $5,000 design-based award, which will be presented at HD‘s Platinum Circle Gala on November 11th at the Conrad New York. To contribute to The Clifford R. Tuttle Scholarship please click here.
Tuttle worked as director of director of design for eight years in Washington, DC, before launching the San Francisco branch of the firm. Earlier in his career, Tuttle was president of Concept Design Group in Honolulu and Concept International Design Group in Singapore.
Spanning over 30 years, Tuttle’s career included the design and project management of luxury hotels and resorts in the United States and Southeast Asia. His projects range from the Raffles Singapore to Starwood’s Luxury Collection hotels in Santiago, Chile and Portland, Oregon (the Nines). He also served as an educator, teaching at the Honolulu Academy of Arts and the Interior Designers’ Guild in Los Angeles.
In 2009, Cliff received the prestigious NEWH Person of Excellence Award for his significant contribution to the design industry and to NEWH, on whose board of directors he served for many years. He was active throughout his career with the ASID and served as the Hawaii chapter president and the director of professional development for the Washington, DC chapter as well as on numerous national committees for the society.
Tuttle was a pioneer in sustainable design in the hospitality industry and served on the Sustainable Design Council for ASID. A LEED-Accredited Professional, he was on the Technical Advisory Group for LEED for Hospitality for the US Green Building Council.

Cliff’s family is planning a small private service. There will be a memorial celebration in San Francisco later this summer, for which details will be released soon. Remembrances can be posted on Cliff’s Facebook page, ForrestPerkins’ Facebook page, and on the NEWH Facebook page.
