Dezeen Founder Marcus Fairs, 54, Has Died

Photo courtesy Dezeen

The sudden and shocking death of Dezeen CEO and editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs on Thursday, June 30 has elicited an outpouring of tributes from the architecture and design community. "Marcus was like the mischievous ringmaster who brought the design world circus together," said Thomas Heatherwick in a post on the website Fairs founded in 2006.

While a cause of death has not been revealed, Dezeen announced that the 54-year-old Fairs was taken to the hospital last week after becoming unwell and died following a short period in intensive care.

The London-based journalist had written about design for several publications, including Building, where he was a deputy editor, before launching the architecture and design magazine Icon in 2003. Three years later he started Dezeen from a spare bedroom. The site has grown to become an influential resource for architects and designers around the world. For "the enormous contribution he has made to architecture," Fairs was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2017, the first digital journalist to be so honored.

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Josephine Minutillo is editor in chief of Architectural Record. Trained as an architect, she began writing for RECORD in 2001 while practicing architecture, and has held several positions at the magazine over the past two decades. Her articles have appeared in many international publications. She has been an invited critic at Washington University in St. Louis, The Cooper Union, Columbia GSAPP, Pratt Institute, The City College of New York, and Yale University.
Instagram: @josephineminutillo_