BLUE ASH — Andrew J. Laurens simply showed up to work on the campaign to build the new Reds ballpark at Broadway Commons.

        No one knew who he was, but having written his graduate thesis on architecture in Over-the-Rhine, he was interested in turning the historic Cincinnati neighborhood into a mixed-income community and believed putting the baseball field there would be a positive step.

        Cincinnati Councilman Jim Tarbell, one of the leaders of the initiative, was so impressed with Mr. Laurens that he named him a co-campaign manager in his first bid for council in 1997.

        “He had never worked on a political campaign in his life,” said Mr. Tarbell. “We had 60 days to put the whole thing together before the election. We lost by one tenth of one percent. (Mr. Laurens') tenacity, his conviction and his integrity more than made up for his lack of practical political experience.”

        Mr. Tarbell was named to fill the seat of the retiring Bobbie Sterne the following spring.

        Mr. Laurens died Saturday at Hospice of Cincinnati in Blue Ash. The downtown resident was 36.

        He grew up in Hyde Park and had a career in computer technology on the West Coast before switching to study architecture at the University of Cincinnati.

        “He always had an artistic bent, and at 24 realized he needed to tap into that,” said his mother, Judith J. Laurens of Hyde Park.

        After finishing his degree in 1996, he joined FRCH Design Worldwide.

        “He was a rare blend of brilliance and conviction and compassion,” said Mr. Tarbell. “He was extremely book smart, but had a conviction about community development and city planning. That drive and compassion about reclaiming the city as a neighborhood seemed to drive him more than anything.”

        And it led him to volunteer for the Broadway Commons initiative, which failed as a ballot issue in 1998.

        Last year, Mr. Laurens was appointed by Mayor Charlie Luken to the Community Development Advisory Board. He would have served until 2004.

        Two and a half years ago, Mr. Laurens was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Determined not to give in to his illness, he spent most of those years traveling to Hungary, the West Coast, Colorado and Santa Fe, N.M., with his family.

        In addition to his mother, survivors include his companion, Phyllis Kratz; his father, Stephen E. Laurens of Hyde Park; a sister, Karen L. Chamberlin of Mount Lookout; and his grandmother, Ursula Laurens of Hyde Park.

        The family will greet friends today from 10:30 until 11 a.m., the time of the funeral, at Jon Deitloff Funeral Centre, 4389 Spring Grove Ave., Winton Place. Interment follows.

        Memorials: The Wellness Community Center, 4918 Cooper Road, Cincinnati OH 45242; or Hospice of Cincinnati, 4310 Cooper Road, Cincinnati, OH 45242.

        E-mail rbillman@enquirer.com

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