Garry grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, and after high school attended the Alberta College of Art in Calgary, then NAIT in Edmonton, receiving an Architectural Technology Diploma in 1969. He worked for a year in an Alberta Regional Planning Commission, then enrolled in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Manitoba, receiving a Bachelor of Environmental Studies in 1973 and a Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture in 1976.
Returning to Alberta, Garry worked at Lombard North in Calgary prior to establishing his own firm, Garry Carson Consulting Ltd. in 1978. In 1980, Tim McCulloch joined him, and the firm became Carson McCulloch Associates Ltd. Garry retired in 2008. Following his first retirement, Garry was asked to help two former employees establish a new LA practice, and between 2011 and 2013 Garry acted as mentor and principal at Ground3 Landscape Architects in Calgary. Since 2014, Garry has lived in Salmon Arm B.C. and spends his winters in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Over 35 years of practice, Garry managed hundreds of projects, involving master planning, urban design, sports facility design, interpretive planning, landscape design, and project management. Significant accomplishments include the Canmore Nordic Centre, for the 1988 Winter Olympics; Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump; Russia’s Khanty Mansiysk Nordic Centre; Callaghan Valley Nordic Centre Master Plan for the 2010 Winter Olympics; Rotary Challenger Park; Calgary’s Urban Parks Master Plan; Ralph Klein Legacy Park, Eau Claire Promenade, Rouleauville Square, Beaulieu Gardens, and Haultain Park in downtown Calgary.
