The Dallas News's Architecture Critic, David Dillon, Has Died at the Age of 68

By Robert Wilonsky Thu., Jun. 3 2010 at 12:30 PM

Categories: Media

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During our server outage of the last hour, several Friends of Unfair Park wanted to make sure we noted David Dillon's death at his home in Amherst, Mass. He suffered a massive heart attack at the age of 68. Dillon, who was among those who took a buyout from the paper in '06, continued to contribute to the paper, and was an instructor at the University of Massachusetts, from which we take this brief bio of a most formidable critic who, as Jerome Weeks notes, "had managed to beat an earlier bout with cancer."

David Dillon has been the architecture Critic for the Dallas Morning News since 1983. He has an M.A. and Ph.D from Harvard University in literature and art history, and was a Loeb Fellow at its Graduate School of Design in 1986-87.

He has written ten books, including Dallas Architecture 1936-1986, The Architecture of O'Neil Ford, The Miller Garden: Icon of Modernism, and Kallmann, McKinnell & Wood. He is also the author of the new plan for Washington, DC, Extending the Legacy, as well as the plan for the White House and President's Park. He is a contributing editor to Architectural Record and writes regularly for numerous national design and planning magazines, including Landscape Architecture, Preservation and Planning.

In addition to writing he lectures widely and serves on major design juries, including the ATF Headquarters in Washington and new Federal Courthouses in Austin Texas and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He currently divides his time between Dallas and Amherst, Mass.

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David and I were friends from college days onward. Because our careers took us far from each other, communication was often infrequent, meetings even moreso, and it's been a couple of years now since we last saw each other. All those words above, how right they are: funny, smart, curious, brave, warm, generous, candid....He's gone far too soon and I'll really miss him!
Thank you all for your kind words. Its amazing to see him in a totally different light than that of my dad. I knew he was gifted; I just didnt know other people knew too. I miss you daddy.
What Jerome said. Plus this: David was, like all fine critics, excellently sourced, endlessly curious, smart, funny, fallible and just plain brave. Others have more poignant stories of his generosity. But as I dithered over whether to leave a longish career in newspapers and move away to-what-i-did-not-know, he gave me lots of time and the best and simplest career/life advice I've ever received. A sailor, he reminded me that the surest way to work the wind isn't always a straight line. "Remember to tack." It's become a mantra.
I always looked forward to reading his pieces in the DMN on local development projects from an architect's perspective. His candor was refreshing, and the articles were always well written and well reasoned. He'll be missed by many in Dallas.
Way back in about 1983-84, I wrote a pretty harsh letter to him about what I thought he ought to be writing about and the guy actually called me! He said that mine was the first response he had gotten after writing for the News for over a year. "Droping stones in a well and never hearing them hit bttom" During the conversation he accepted my invitation to dinner we had a lovely time with he and his wife. What a fine fellow. I will surely miss him.
David was a true bon vivant -- he lived well, in every sense. He was discerning without being the least bit stuffy. He lived with gusto but never with unseemly excess. He was among the most steadfast and generous of friends. It's so hard to believe that he's gone. It was my very great privilege to work with him several times over the years. Looking back, I can't believe my luck. Bon voyage, great heart!
David was a sweet cat. Very smart and very kind. Wrote a nice obit for my old man and a great book about my godfather O'Neil Ford.
David was blessed with a brilliant eye, a discerning mind and a way with words that critiqued, entertained and left you feeling all the smarter for taking the time to read his work. When I moved here as a reporter from Seattle ten years ago, I was so impressed with his work, and later even more impressed as I got to know him a bit as a colleague and a person. Dallas was so very fortunate to have him as long as we did. Chris Heinbaugh Chief of Staff Office of the Mayor
As anyone who worked at the News may remember, for years Dillon had on his desk a gift from a reader (I've forgotten who). It was a windup toy version of Godzilla. He came with a couple of tiny skyscrapers. I had the pleasure once of winding him up and letting him knock down the buildings. The giver had prominently labeled the entire affair an 'Architecture Critic's Kit.' It has been extremely rare in my experience in journalism to encounter someone as wise and generous as David -- and part of his wisdom came from knowing what to take seriously and what was worth laughing at. I think those same virtues contributed to his talent as a critic.
The thing about David is that he was as deep and as eloquent on all the other arts as he was on architecture. A few moments talking with him were like a graduate seminar on whatever subject you happened to be discussing. And he was funny.
Smarter than he had to be, he was an instantly missed loss when he left the News. To those who knew him and mourn his loss, my condolence.
David left us a lot richer for recognizing what we have (and had). He had a critical eye but eclectic preferences; something well-built was more exciting than something elaborate. We can only hope that, among his legacies, we see the extension of the DC plan and his hand in making that shining city better, as he did ours.