Heather M. Morgan
Statement: A noted climate risk adaptation expert, Heather Morgan (1977-2021) brought her nearly 20 years of experience—first at Design Workshop in Asheville, North Carolina, then at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and most recently at AECOM—in flood risk management, infrastructure planning, landscape architecture, and landscape archaeology to projects focused on sustainability through adaptation.
Heather believed that “[t]he health of the natural system is [a] national security concern” and dedicated her career to redefining the relationship between our human inhabitation and the natural system utilizing a transdisciplinary approach. Her oratory skills were legendary, and she used them to educate people to empower them to advocate for their communities because she felt that unless people understood the dynamic, there would be no real progress.
As AECOM’s Climate Risk Adaptation Lead, Heather was extremely proud—and deservedly so—of the work she did for Battery Park City, overseeing integrated flood risk and public space design, stakeholder and community engagement, and FEMA certification and accreditation for the western edge of Lower Manhattan.
Heather was herself a force of nature who brought boundless energy, genuine integrity, and limitless passion to her work. She lived her life to the fullest, packing more in her 44 years than most do in a lifetime, and had a tremendous impact on everyone who was lucky enough to have known her.
Never one to acquiesce, Heather fought a long and valiant battle with appendix cancer, continuing to work full-time and speak publicly, including appropriately at TCLF’s Courageous by Design Conference, just six weeks before she passed away. Heather will be greatly missed by her friends and colleagues alike, many of whom contributed to make this tribute possible, including:
Karen Appell, Amanda Barton, Claire Bonham-Carter, Nicole Boothman-Shepard, Gwen Dawson, Rachel Dencker, Jill Desimini, Lisa Diaz, Gina Ford, Amy Freitag, Jacinta McCann, Emily McCoy, Lauren Micir, Signe Nielsen, Courtney O’Neill, Jean Phifer, Jennifer Reut, Jackie Snyder, Marilisa Stigliano, Beverley Stinson, Doreen Taveras, Christine Tiernan, Marcia Tobin, Kim Tryba, and Claire Weisz.