David A. Morton, a former associate publisher at Rizzoli International Publications who oversaw Rizzoli's architecture program for nearly 30 years, died in an assisted living residence in Norfolk, Va., of lymphoma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on June 27. He was 89.
Morton joined Rizzoli in 1987, acquiring and editing books on architecture. At Rizzoli, he established a program of publications about leading architects and books that explored architecture from a theoretical and historical perspective. He published illustrated architecture books by such figures as Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Thom Mayne, and I.M. Pei, among others. Frank Lloyd Wright: The Houses, first published in 2005, remains one of Rizzoli's top-selling titles. Morton was named to the newly created position of associate publisher in 2008.
“David helped make Rizzoli the preeminent publisher of architecture books," said Rizzoli publisher Charles Miers, in a statement. "His intellectual curiosity, far-reaching vision, high standards, and the seeming ease with which he produced so many books are unmatched.”
Under Morton’s guidance, Rizzoli also published books on such significant historical figures as Gunnar Asplund, Le Corbusier, Carlo Scarpa, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, and Louis Sullivan. These illustrated publications were combined with scholarly analyses written by such historians and theorists as Barry Bergdoll, Kurt Forster, Kenneth Frampton, Joan Ockman and Richard Guy Wilson.
In 2006, Morton received the Henry Hope Reed Award from the Richard H. Driehaus Prize for his contributions to highlighting classical architecture. In 2009, Rizzoli’s books devoted to both modern and classical styles earned Mr. Morton, along with Charles Miers, honors from the Sir John Soane’s Museum Foundation in New York.
A longtime resident of New York City, Morton was born in Tampa, Fla., on June 28, 1934. After graduating from the University of Florida in 1960, he relocated to New York, where he worked as an editor for Charles Scribner’s Sons. In 1970, Morton joined Progressive Architecture magazine, where he was eventually named executive editor.
Morton retired from Rizzoli in 2015 and moved to Norfolk in 2019. He is survived by a niece, Susan Armas-Mentado, and two nephews, Dirk Morton and Jon Witherspoon.
