Morton Coburn

Morton Coburn of Chicago, Illinois passed away July 19, 2022. Morton was the son of the late Kate and Henry Coburn and beloved identical twin brother of the late Leonard and his older brother Seymour. He was the beloved uncle of David, Lynn, Karen, Kenneth, Monica, Valerie and Marshall, great uncle of many, and longtime friend of Matthew Keller, Rand Harris and Thomas Schroeder.

Morton was a graduate of the first class of the new Lane Technical High School on West Addison Street in Chicago. Morton and his brother Leonard worked shelving books in the Lane school library. During WWII Morton served in the Pacific in the U. S. Army 472nd Anti-Aircraft Unit.

Later, Morton attended, on the GI Bill, the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana earning degrees in Education and Library Science. Morton went on to hold library positions at the University of Kansas, Ohio State University and Air University in Alabama.

Morton also served as Director of the Edmonton Public Library, Alberta, Canada from 1956 to 1972. He held professional memberships in the Canadian Library Association, the Alberta Library Association and the American Library Association. Morton worked with architects on Edmonton's first major central library building displacing an older Carnegie Library during the Centennial of Canada as a Dominion in the British Commonwealth and the construction of several new branch libraries in that city.

Morton served for over 38 years as Director of Chicago Library System Building Programs working on the new main library and over 80 branches of the Chicago Public Library until he retired at age 91.

Morton was a man of astounding generosity, contributing regularly to many charitable organizations including the Greater Chicago Food Depository, the ACLU, the Chicago Public Library Foundation, among many others. He was a caring and thoughtful professional and personal mentor to many friends and associates. Morton was a survivor of open anti-Semitism who prevailed, succeeding despite prejudice, and became a truly loving example to us all. He lived more than a century, becoming in many ways the best of us all, and will be missed profoundly.