Paul Marantz

Paul Murat Marantz was an American architectural lighting designer, whose work includes the discothèque Studio 54, the Times Square Ball, the Tribute in Light, the Barnes Foundation,
and the Burj Khalifa. He was a founder of the lighting design firm Fisher Marantz Stone.

Education and early career

Marantz was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey on April 27, 1938. He received a B.A. from Oberlin College and did graduate work at Case Western Reserve University and Brooklyn College. In 1968, he established an architectural lighting design firm with Jules Fisher.

Personal life and death

Marantz was married to Marsha Heller and had one son, but later divorced. He married Jane in 1977, and had another son. He died from a stroke at his home in Manhattan, New York City, on May 26, 2025, at the age of 87.

Selected projects

Barnes Foundation
Burj Khalifa
Byzantine Fresco Chapel
Carnegie Hall Restoration
Grand Central Terminal Restoration
Islamic [Cultural Center of New York]
Miho Museum
New York Public Library, Rose Main Reading Room Restoration
Reflecting Absence, The National September 11 Memorial
Studio 54
Times Square Ball
Lighting standards for the redevelopment of Times Square
Tribute in Light

Awards and honors

Marantz received numerous Lumen Citations from the Illuminating [Engineering Society of North America] for projects including the J. Paul Getty Museum, the restoration of Radio City Music Hall, the Times Square Ball, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Byzantine Fresco Chapel. He received the International Association of Lighting Designers Award for Excellence for the Islamic Cultural Center of New York and the San Francisco [Museum of Modern Art], and he received an IALD Citation for the restoration of the Rainbow Room. New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp described Marantz, as a “lighting genius.”