Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886 - 1969) was a German-born architect and teacher who was most influential in creating the mid-20th Century glass and steel and open space architecture that we have come to take for granted.
He spent the first half of his life in Germany, receiving his first commission to build a home when he was only 20 years old.  In 1930 he was the director of the Bauhaus which he had to close in 1933 under pressure from the Nazi regime.  In 1938 he was hired by the Armour Institute in Chicago.  Then the Armour Intitute and the Lewis Institute merged to form the Illinois Institute of Technology and moved to a 120 acre campus for which van der Rohe developed the plans.
Mies' assertion was:  "Less is More".
His most famous furniture designs include the Barcelona Chair which is ubiquitous in most major office designs.
He died in Chicago, IL in 1969.