William Morris
by Diane Roback -- Publishers Weekly, 10/6/2003
Bill Morris, longtime v-p and director of library promotion at HarperCollins Children's Books, died of cancer on September 29 in New York City. He was 74. Morris was born in Eagle Pass, Tex.; he attended Rice University and earned a master's degree in American literature at Duke University. His first job in the book world was in the Doubleday bookstore at Grand Central Terminal in New York City. In 1955 he joined Harper & Brothers as a secretary and spent 10 years as a sales representative for the company. He was named manager of the library department at Harper Books for Boys and Girls in 1965, a position he held until his death. Morris was a pioneer in working with librarians and teachers around the country to broaden the use of children's books in libraries and in classrooms and in raising the profiles of authors and illustrators. In 1992 he was named the first recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Association for Library Service to Children.
