Manuel Morris, renowned architect and pillar of the greater Kansas City Jewish community, passed away on Sept. 26, 2018, at Brookdale Assisted Living in Overland Park at the age of 101. Up until the end, he retained the intellect, wit and twinkle in his eye that charmed us for a century. He was married for 76 years to Victoria Hakan Morris, his devoted aishes chayil (woman of valor) who passed away less than a year ago at the age of 100.
Manuel was born in Kansas City, Missouri, to parents from the Polish shtetl. He helped support the family while in Westport High School and worked his way through college during the Depression. A World War II veteran, with no financial backing or professional contacts, he succeeded in building an extraordinary architecture firm, designing warehouses, shopping centers, synagogues, Jewish Centers and a host of fine structures across the country. Already in his teens, Manuel was the finely attired, well-spoken, classy gentleman with savoir-faire that he retained until the end.
Manuel was a pioneer in race relations in the 1950s. In his own inimitable style, with not a hoot for political correctness, he was all about placing value on the individual. He sought friendships with ethical individuals of quality, regardless of race or creed. This brought him to strike up an amazing friendship with the late Wesley Elders Sr., a former musician in Count Basie’s Kansas City band who had managed to become quite an impressive construction contractor on his side of town. Manuel heard about his professional and personal greatness and sought him out. Wesley was not employable on white peoples’ projects back in the ’50s. Manuel changed all that. In Wesley’s office in the basement of his home, these two buddies spent hours sharing values, while building a new chapter in race relations. Remember that back in the 1950s the Elders’ neighborhood was a wholesome, drug-free, attractive place where refined church-going families prevailed. Manuel mentored, promoted and brought Elders’ black construction team into the white construction scene with great success. The Morris and Elders families bonded in warm personal friendship, attended one another’s celebrations and enriched one another’s lives immensely.
Manuel Morris was recognized as one of the masters of mid-century modern “Googie” architecture, a rather funky, nostalgic, sweet aesthetic. His King Louie Lanes and Ice Rink, spanning construction stages from 1948-1965, was recently transformed and inaugurated into the Johnson County Museum and Heritage Center. This awesome structure is a rare remaining purist example of “Googie” design in Johnson County. It exhibits many of his innovative structural techniques such as shell canopy, biomorphic accents, folded plate roof and softening of Frank Lloyd Wright influence into warmer shapes and materials.
Manuel’s uncanny charisma and ability to cultivate culturally diverse circles of friends and professionals propelled him ahead of his time in the religious sphere as well. With all his involvements on a broad scale, he maintained a clear-cut, outspoken Jewish identity, eschewing assimilation in all forms. He knew that a Jew stands apart in the deepest, positive sense. He lived this principle of tradition and passed it on to his family. It was he who brought Chabad to Kansas City in the 1960s. He went to Crown Heights and requested from the Rebbe that he send representatives to settle in Kansas City to strengthen traditional, Torah Yiddishkeit. He helped develop local Chabad Houses and contributed to other local Torah true enterprises as well.
Manuel’s love for Zion and intense Jewish pride propelled him to become one of the early supporters of the Jewish Defense League. He kept a photo of Meir Kahane along with a declaration of JDL principles near his desk all the years and next to his bed at Brookdale. He brought Meir Kahane to Kansas City in the ’60s to speak. That impassioned, factually overwhelming delivery provoked quite a ruckus among the shocked audience, much to Manuel’s delight.
On a more conventional note, he led the way in Jewish Federation, the Jewish Community Center, Israel Bonds and a panoply of religious causes. He did extensive research in order to provide plans for construction of mikvaot across the country. He was enlisted in this holy mission in the ’60s by the Helmetzer “mikvah” Rebbe. Among his local religious structures were the former JCC, former Congregation Beth Shalom, Kehilath Israel Synagogue sanctuary on Meyer Boulevard and Congregation Ohev Sholom.
Manuel and Victoria’s prime achievement was passing on the legacy from Sinai. They were blessed to see all their descendants settled in the Holy Land and observant of Torah and mitzvot.
Manuel Morris will be ever cherished by his daughters, Barbara Morris Glaberson and Deborah Morris Freeman, together with the spouses, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren: Zev, Eliyohu, Leah, Yakov, Sruli, Chana, Rena, Hillel, Yedidya, Sarah, Binyomin, Tali, Shai, Brocho, Shmuel, Yehuda, Hadas, Racheli, Tzviki, Tamar, Natanel, Shmuly, Gitty, Nechama, Nachman, Nachman, Aryeh, Hoshaya, Avraham Sholom, Yonoson, Avigayil, Iska, Nechemia, Michali, Avishai, David, Eitan, Rochel, Yerachmiel, Moishe Chaim, Hadassa Leah, Menachem, Yisroel Meir, Yakov Yisroel, Elisheva, Tami, Elisha, Elimelech, Yonatan, Yossi, Chaya, Moishy, Yisroel, Yehoshua.
Graveside services and burial were held Sept. 27, 2018, at Sheffield Cemetery.
Online condolences for the family may be left at louismemorialchapel.com.
Arrangements by The Louis Memorial Chapel, 816-361-5211.