Morris David Morris

Morris David Morris died on March 12 in Boulder, Colorado at the age of 90. He was a leading economic historian of India and traveled often and widely in that country. Much of his career was spent at the University of Washington where he helped build that university’s economic history program. Later he moved to Brown University from which he retired in 1991. His concern with economic development and inequality led him to develop the Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI). Morris served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Economic History in the 1960s and later as Vice-President of the Economic History Association.
Morris was a deeply civilized man – an inspiring teacher and storyteller, a collector of art, an appreciator of food and wine and gardens. He volunteered time to civic activities at the local, national and international levels. Always the scholar, he was deeply concerned by the plight of the world’s poor and brought his scholarship to bear on questions of poverty and inequality.