building projects. Geren was the local associate architect working with Louis Kahn on the Kimbell Art Museum. This was a common practice in Fort Worth with out-of-town architects, and Kahn had a reputation for significant time and cost overruns. The Geren firm was known locally for bringing in projects on time and within budget. The contract called for control over construction to be turned over to Geren when Kahn had finished the design, a provision that eventually led to conflict because Kahn felt that a design was never finished until the building was constructed. The museum trustees settled the issue by deciding that Geren would report directly to them instead of to Kahn, but that Kahn would have final say over the design. Geren's contributions to the Fort Worth skyline include Burnett Plaza (1983), Fort Worth's tallest building. Other notable buildings designed by Geren include the Clayton Williams Alumni Center at Texas A&M. As a architectural business leader, Geren built Geren and Associates into one of the nation's 25 largest architectural firms and one of the largest firms in Texas by the early 1980s. With its lineage to Sanguinet and Staats, Geren and Associates was considered by architect Mark Gunderson to be the "primary 'branch' in the tree of Fort Worth architectural firms." Philanthropy and civic leadership As a civic leader, Geren chaired the Trinity Improvement Association, was organizer and president of Streams and Valleys, was president of the Exchange Club, and served as a board member of the Fort Worth Children’s Hospital, the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, and the Fort Worth Symphony. He was elected to the Westover Hills, Texas, City Council and the Tarrant Regional Water District. Geren was an active corporate board member as well, serving on the boards of Ridglea State Bank, Equitable Savings and Loan, Fort Worth National Bank, Gibraltar Savings Bank, First United Bancorp, Enserch Corp., Pool Well Service Co. and Ebasco Services Co. He co-founded and served on the board of Overton Bank and Trust. Geren had a lifelong association with Texas A&M, sponsoring seven scholarships at the university and receiving the Fort Worth A&M Club Lifetime Achievement Award. He also contributed to the Preston M. Geren Auditorium, named in honor of Preston Geren Sr., and the Frederick Giesecke Lecture Series. He was on the committee for the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum and served on advisory committees