Former University of Chicago Press Director Morris Philipson Has Died

Last week he died of a heart attack at age 85.

Philipson was responsible during his tenure for introducing innovations that transformed academic publishing, “once almost exclusively the domain of important but arcane scholarly works,” and in the process turning University of Chicago Press into one of the most important academic presses in the country.

He published the first work of fiction in the publishing house’s history, which ended up being “A River Runs Through It,” a book that became “a perennial money-maker” for the press.

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