"Learn to listen to your clients. It's a shocking thought, but your client was smart enough to make enough money to hire you and to afford to build a building. Listen. You just may possibly learn."

Architect and industrialist Charles Luckman died at his home in Los Angeles on January 26. He was 89.

Luckman helped create a wide variety of American landmarks, among them: the Prudential Center in Boston, the new Madison Square Garden in New York, Hawaii's Aloha Stadium and the Cape Canaveral Space Center in Florida.

Born in Kansas City, Mo., Luckman became president of Pepsodent when he was 30. He later became president of Lever Brothers.

Luckman was a member of the President's Committee on Civil Rights during World War II. In 1947, President Truman called on Luckman to help feed war-devastated Europe. He was honored with Britain's Order of St. John, France's Legion of Honor and Italy's Star of Solidarity.

Luckman was trained as an architect, and he used that training to design Lever House in New York -- one of the world's first steel-and-glass skyscrapers. By 1950 he had returned to architecture, setting up his own firm in Los Angeles.