A champion of historic preservation, prominent Texan architect O'Neil Ford decried architectural flamboyance and cliché. He was also a passionate advocate for education and the environment.

In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson appointed Ford to the National Council on the Arts.

Ford died in 1982, but his ethic of simplicity, integrity, and restraint continues to inspire. "Architecture is scale and proportion," he often said. "The rest is décor."