DURHAM, NC – Richard Morgan, age 88, died in his home on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, surrounded by his family. He was born on October 13, 1935, in Sanford, NC to the late Helen Wood Morgan Speed and Rufus Reese Morgan.
Richard grew up in downtown Durham from the age of three with five older women in his household, his three older sisters, his mother and his grandmother, along with his equally outnumbered father. He was the recipient of lots of hugs and love from the doting female members of his family and wisdom from his father, who taught him to work hard and respect all people. This foundation turned Richard into the wonderful person we knew and loved – always warm, gentle and kind, quick to hug, there for anyone who needed help, an eternal optimist who always saw possibilities, not impossibilities, and someone who touched the heart of everyone who met him.
Richard played football at Durham High School, where Coach Brubaker was a second father figure, who supported him in his dreams with humor and heart, especially after his father died during his senior year. Until his death, Richard was a member of the Durham High Forever Committee. For college, he graduated from Duke University, where he majored in history, which he was passionate about throughout his life. He also played football his freshmen year at Duke, was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity, a Red Friar, and participated in the Naval ROTC.
After graduation in 1958, he married Nancy Darling and joined the Marine Corps, where he served from 1958-1961, while attending the American School of Law at night. In 1964, after a short period selling life insurance through Northwestern Mutual, he received a letter from the Marine Corps asking for officers to help serve in Vietnam and volunteered to reenlist.
He served at the 12th Marine Headquarters in Danang, Vietnam, where he was first a Senior Aerial Observer and then a Chief Intelligence Officer for the 3rd Marine Division. In this role, he ran the Chu Hoi program to repatriate North Vietnamese defectors.
When Murray Fromson from CBS News needed two planes to fly over the DMZ, he couldn’t make it happen until he met Richard. Richard’s response when Murray asked him was, “when do you want them?” Within two hours, Murray was in the air with everything he needed. The creativity, entrepreneurial spirit and people skills that Richard was famous for manifested themselves early on when he needed school buildings for the families of the North Vietnamese defectors working with his intelligence group. He had excess C-Rations, he knew an officer on another base who had some scotch but needed more food, and he knew a third officer who had building materials. He arranged a three-way trade: C-Rations for scotch and scotch for building supplies, and he got the schools up and running.
Richard received multiple medals including the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions during the war. He then transferred to Admiral Welch’s staff in Norfolk, VA before leaving the service as a Major.
While in Vietnam, a chance meeting with his translator’s wife who had a gift store in Okinawa inspired his vision for Morgan Imports. “I saw she had lots of brass and rattan in her store, and I loved the interesting, unique, quality products that were representative of different cultures. I knew there was nothing like that in Durham,” he said, “and I wanted to connect my city with the art, culture, and history of different countries.” With little experience and lots of hope and determination, he opened the first store in 1969 on Main Street in the old Piggly Wiggly building.
For the next 51 years, Morgan Imports was a Durham institution and at the vanguard of the revival of downtown Durham. As his granddaughter wrote in her college essays, “The store is one of those places so chock-full of miscellaneous goods it can’t help but feel welcoming to all. It’s perfectly fair to argue that futons don’t belong in the same store as novelty hotdog choppers, but the store has always served as the perfect canvas for inspiring creativity.” From Brightleaf Square to Peabody Place, both inside and out, Richard created beauty from mundane objects, reconstituting old boilers into decorative handrails and metalwork, using reclaimed wood from tobacco warehouses to design the store interiors. He was an “upcycler” before the term existed.
Richard contributed to Durham’s vitality in numerous other ways, serving on the boards of Downtown Durham Inc., Carolina Theater, Durham Arts Council, and Preservation Durham.
He loved his customers and loved hearing about the memories the store had given people. When Morgan Imports closed in 2020, he was delighted that the store’s famous “Buck Morgan” reindeer that had served as the setting for generations of Christmas photos went to the Durham Museum of Life and Science where it could continue to be part of children’s experiences.
After Richard retired at the age of 85, he spent his time loving his family, celebrating his birthdays with lots of company and chocolate cake, enjoying his sports clubs (always a Duke basketball fan), and creating beautiful spaces. He finalized plans for his last project on the day he died.
Richard is survived by his wife of 43 years, Jacqueline Gonzalez Morgan, his daughter, Lauri Morgan Norman (Rob), his son, Richard Wood Morgan Jr. (Blair), his stepdaughter, Rachel Erickson Hee (Andrew), his grandchildren, Matthew Stansell (Andi), Jane Morgan, Richard Wood Morgan III, Davis Morgan, Lee Winchester (Allison), Ethan Norman (Macy), Annabelle Hee and Alex Hee, and his great-grandson, James Winchester. Richard was preceded in death by his grandson, Andrew Stansell and his three sisters, Joann Wedel, Shirley Rigsbee, and Carol Couch.
A celebration of his life will be held on Sunday, June 23 from 3:30 to 6:00 pm. The ceremony begins at 4:00 pm. The location is at The Fruit, where Richard’s father worked for many years. The address is 305 South Dillard St. Durham, NC 27701.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the following organizations: Durham Rescue Mission P.O. Box 11368 Durham, NC 27703 www.durhamrescuemission.org; Senior PharmAssist 406 Rigsbee Ave. Suite 201 Durham, NC 27701 www.seniorpharmaassist.org; American Dance Festival Box 90772 Durham, NC 27708 www.americandancefestival.org.
Casual attire welcome or as Richard would expect to see you.
The Morgan family is under the care of Hall-Wynne Funeral Service. Online condolences: www.hallwynne.com – select obituaries.
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