Donald Preston Cato

Don Preston Cato holds a Bachelor of Science (‘67) and a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (‘70) from Michigan State University, while working for Lansing Parks & Recreation where he contributed to the redesign of the Lansing Zoo, Ball Fields and Public Park spaces. He joined with a former Peace Corps Volunteer to repurpose a North Lansing dilapidated warehouse space into a Youth Drop-In Center “safe space”.

After graduation, he worked as a Landscape Architect in Cambridge, MA for Moriece & Gary and then Sasaki Associates, focusing on schools, reclamation and large-scale corporate projects like Baxter International, Quail Ridge at Boynton Beach FL. While in Boston, Cato also pursued filmmaking at The Orson Welles Film School and participated in a workshop with director Paul Morrissey and Nicholas Ray.

In 1973 he became a Graduate Teaching Fellow at the University of Oregon and earned his MLA in 1976. As a student he also entered the MFA Motion Graphics program and after graduating, he led the Eugene Filmmakers Cinematheque and worked on studio films including Animal House, Stand By Me, and How to Beat the High Cost of Living.