Emily Rich Summers ’66
A proven tastemaker, Emily Rich Summers ’66 seamlessly blends her professional talent for interior design with her knowledge and passion for art, architecture and historic preservation.
The Kansas City native made her way to SMU in 1962, where she studied painting under the tutelage of Jerry Bywaters and DeForrest Judd and minored in business. She pledged Kappa Alpha Theta and was president of the Mamselles Fashion Group, serving her well as she began working at Neiman Marcus in the fashion office upon graduation.
Ten years after graduating, she served as a docent at the Dallas Museum of Art, which sparked her interest in art history. She enrolled in graduate study of the subject back at her alma mater, with her sights set on becoming an art advisor. A class trip to Vienna and Yugoslavia opened her eyes to furniture design and decorative arts, and the rest was history.
Today, Summers is the founder and principal of Emily Summers Design Associates, a residential and commercial design and interior architecture firm. She has completed residential projects and collaborations in Dallas, New York, Palm Springs, Jackson Hole, Maui and Bermuda. Her commercial projects include Hall Arts Tower, the Perot family offices, Highland Park Village offices and Fachini restaurant, as well as private offices in Cityplace Tower, Cowboys football stadium, Crescent Court and the Dallas Winspear Opera House. She has acted as civic interior consultant on the Dallas Museum of Art’s Horchow Auditorium, the Dallas Arboretum’s DeGolyer House and Camp House, The Hockaday School, the Dee and Charles Wyly Theater, the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, the AT&T Performing Arts Center and Perkins Chapel at SMU. Most recently, Summers oversaw the Gene and Jerry Jones Grand Atrium renovations and light installation as part of the Meadows School of the Arts facilities redesign.
Summers published Distinctly Modern Interiors in 2019 and was featured in Interior Design Master Class: 100 Lessons from America’s Finest Designers on the Art of Decoration and Dallas Modern. She contributed to Peter Lane: Clay in 2022, and her work has splashed the pages of publications including D Home, Modern Luxury Interiors, PaperCity, Patron, The New York Times, Veranda, Architectural Digest, Town & Country, Elle Décor Spain and Vogue Living Australia.
Among her many accolades, she has been honored among Architectural Digest’s 100 Best Designers and Architects in the World and was named a Meadows at the Meyerson honoree in 2020 and a D Home Visionary Award honoree for Prestige Design in 2022. Her greatest accomplishment came when she served by presidential appointment on the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation from 2002 to 2006.
Summers is a member of the American Society of Interior Designers, a founding member and former president of the Dallas Architecture Forum, a board member of the Trinity Park Conservancy, a sustaining member of the Dallas Arboretum, a former board member of the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, a sustaining member of the Junior League of Dallas, a longtime supporter of the Dallas Museum of Art and a supporter of Dallas Crystal Charity Ball.
Summers continues her commitment to the SMU community by serving on the Meadows School of the Arts Executive Board. She also established the Emily Rich Summers Endowed Professorship of Art History in 2015, preserving the legacy of arts education at SMU.
This year, Summers is celebrating 57 years of marriage to her husband, Stephen J. Summers ’66, ’67. They met during their first year at SMU. They share three children, Caroline Summers Taubman, Stephen Rich Summers and Laura Summers Briggs ’93, who also met her husband, Travis Briggs ’93, while they both were attending SMU. Emily and Steve Summers also share eight grandchildren, including one SMU grad and one first-year Mustang.