George Calvin Means, Jr. was born in Cleveland, OH on May 8, 1920, the son of George Calvin Means and Florence A. Henninger. He graduated from Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve University) in 1947 with a Bachelor of Architecture degree and from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1955 with a Master of Architecture degree. During World War II Means joined the Coast Guard and served aboard the USS Samuel Chase during the Normandy invasion. He married Hilma Rae Hall and they had two children.

After the war Means practiced architecture and designed a number of hospitals. In 1950 he began teaching at Clemson College (now Clemson University). His students won Clemson’s first design competition for a progressive patient care hospital in 1965. In 1968 Means founded the Health Facilities Planning and Design Studio which later became the Architecture + Health program. With the Studio he helped develop South Carolina’s Community Mental Health program and designed the three community mental health referral facilities under the “Village System” concept. He consulted with the South Carolina Department of Mental Health and a number of hospitals in South Carolina and elsewhere. Means retired in 1988 but continued to teach until 1990.

Means became a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1989 and was a member of its Committee on Healthcare Architecture. That same year he was awarded the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest civilian award by Governor Carroll Campbell. Means died in Clemson, SC on April 13, 2005.