News
Bill Lacy
It is with great sorrow that we mourn the death of Bill Lacy (1933-2020), who served as the Executive Director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize from 1988 to 2005.
He was well recognized in the architecture and design fields for his contributions to academics, advancements in competition processes, and counsel to public and private institutions. He furthered public interest in architecture through multiple efforts and everything he did was enriched by his energetic wit and enduring friendship.
Tom Pritzker, Chairman of The Hyatt Foundation which sponsors the Pritzker Architecture Prize recalls, “Bill played a profoundly important role in shepherding the Pritzker Prize to become the highest accolade in the field of architecture. His voice and ideas were essential to that effort.”
Mr. Lacy was the President of Purchase College, State University of New York (1992-2002); President of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City (1980–1988); and President of the American Academy in Rome (1977–1979). He was the Director of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Architecture and Environmental Arts Program (1971–1977) and Dean of the University of Tennessee College of Architecture and Design (1965–1969).
He authored 100 Contemporary Architects: Drawings & Sketches (1991) and co-authored The Pritzker Architecture Prize, the First Twenty Years (1999) alongside the late Colin Amery, the late J. Carter Brown, William Curtis and Martha Thorne.
