Ken Killian
(1931-2009)
Born: Chicago, Illinois
Died: Granada Hills, California, Sept. 20, 2009 at age 78
Killian was a 1957 graduate of the University of Illinois, earning a degree in City Planning and Landscape Architecture. He began his golf course architecture career with ASGCA Founding Member and first ASGCA President, Robert Bruce Harris, in Chicago. In 1964, Killian and fellow Illinois graduate Dick Nugent joined forces to form a Chicago-based firm. Killian and Nugent. In 1983 he left that partnership to form Killian Golf Design Group, which he operated in Illinois and Southern California until his death.
The firm of Killian and Nugent created dozens of courses, including Kemper Lakes Golf Course, Long Grove, Ill. and Tuckaway Country Club in Milwaukee. Killian Golf Design Group created courses such as Crickentree Golf Course, Blythwood, S.C.; Valle Grande Golf Club, Bernalillo, N.M., and Eagle Creek Golf Course, Lake Shelbyville, Ill.