Massimo Vignelli, a preeminent figure in nearly all fields of design, passed away in his Manhattan home Tuesday, just several weeks after it was revealed to the public that he had a terminal illness. He was 83.

“Massimo had an incredible eye for all things,” longtime friend and collaborator Richard Meier told ARTINFO in a phone conversation yesterday. Vignelli, best known for his graphic design, did all of the architect’s books, and they shared not only an office building on the far-western reaches of midtown, but an aesthetic ideal. “The reason we enjoyed working together so much is that we sort of had a similar vision of what architecture should be in the 21st century. It had to do with a certain modernity, attitude, light, and space, and how it relates to nature.”