Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian Architect, Has Died The spokeswoman for a Brazilian hospital says famed architect Oscar Niemeyer has died at age 104. A spokeswoman at the Hospital Samaritano tells The Associated Press that he died on Wednesday. She did not give a cause of death. She spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak to the press. Niemeyer was hospitalized for two weeks in May 2012 for pneumonia and dehydration. He spent another two weeks in a hospital in October for dehydration. In works from Brasilia's crown-shaped cathedral to the undulating French Communist Party building in Paris, Niemeyer shunned the steel-box structures of many modernist architects, finding inspiration in nature's crescents. His hallmarks include much of the United Nations complex in New York and the Museum of Modern Art in Niteroi.