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basmith
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« on: November 11, 2009, 09:35:12 AM » |
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From the Ithaca Journal, November 13, 2009
M. DAN MORRIS
1922-2009
ITHACA - M. Dan "Doc" Morris, Cornell Class of '44 & '76 and long-time Ithaca resident died peacefully Monday evening after suffering multiple strokes. He was 87. Morris, born in New York City, became an Eagle Scout with Silver Palm, & attended the first National Scout Jamboree in 1937. An alumnus of Stuyvesant H.S. in NYC, he studied civil engineering at Cornell, where he boxed, played lightweight & heavyweight football, the lightest linebacker in the Ivy League. Serving with the Army Corps of Engineers in Okinawa, Ie Shima, China, & Japan during and after WW II. A world traveler, Morris then worked for various companies & governments building roads, bridges, & water supply systems in South America and the Caribbean before forming his own soil-testing firm. A key figure in bringing integration to civil engineering in America, he served as president of the NY's Metropolitan Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, & as president of the Cornell Society of Engineers. In 2009 he was named Engineer of the Year by ASCE. Throughout his career he wrote sports, and technical articles, & was a long-time member of the Overseas Press Club and Italia Nostra. In 1965 Morris left active engineering to devote his time to writing, editing, teaching technical writing, & raising a family. He wrote four books including his opus on technical writing that was published August 2009 & is already into a second printing. Morris also edited hundreds of books, including a ground-breaking series of 91 practical construction guides at John Wiley & Sons and McGraw-Hill. He also wrote poetry & thousands of magazine and newspaper articles. Morris was an active sports booster, especially for lightweight football and was a kicking consultant for several NFL teams, Cornell, Ithaca College, & Ithaca HS. Morris was the doting, devoted Papa and is survived by three adult children (all graduates of Cornell): Gregory '87, who is a business journalist and historian living in New York; Misty Morris Fearon, '89, physical therapist who lives in Ithaca; and Christopher '96, who is a maritime archaeologist currently on government deployment; and three young grandsons. A private family interment is planned for the weekend; a memorial service is being planned for later in the year.
Calling hours will be held Thursday, November 12, 2009, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Bangs Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Robert Cullen Fund (specify for M.D. Morris), c/o Teagle Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
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