Kevin Lippert was encouraged to study historical texts when he was a graduate student in architecture. The books were old, fragile and cumbersome, and access to them was limited.
It occurred to him that if they could be made available at a reasonable price, students would pay for them.
He gave his idea a try. He persuaded the school's librarians to let him take out rare books and copy them, so that students wouldn't ruin the originals.
The pilot project was a survey and comparison of buildings of all types. He made copies in large sheets and put them in wooden boxes to preserve them. They were pretty but not very practical.
He decided that his next book should be smaller and bound to broaden the appeal. The most beautiful book on Renaissance architecture ever published is called Edifices de Rome Moderne. He found a printer who printed 1,000 copies of a single volume that was 9 by 12 inches.
They were sold out of the trunk of Mr. Lippert's car. They sold out very quickly.
He was the founder and publisher of Princeton Architectural Press. It branched out beyond its classic reprint series to produce high-quality books on architecture, design and visual culture, as well as books on hobbies and crafts, children's books and note cards.
The publishing venture was an early example of the entrepreneurial spirit that animated Mr. Lippert, who died on March 29 at his home in Ghent, N.Y. He was 63 years old.
His wife said that the cause was related to a second battle with brain cancer.
Mr. Lippert was more than a publisher. He composed his first piece of music at 8. He was a pre-med student at Princeton and then switched majors to study science and history. He earned his master's degree from the School of Architecture. He was a computer whiz and ran a tech services company.
He cooked, biked, hiked, built furniture, gardened and fueled himself with cups of espresso on the side. He wrote a book about secret plans by the United States and Canada to invade each other in the 1920s and 30s.
He was a genuine polymath who worked for Mark at The Dallas Morning News, wrote Mark in a tribute after his death.
His lasting legacy has been in the field of architecture. The press moved to Manhattan, then upstate to Hudson, N.Y., and then back to Manhattan, though it had no formal affiliation with the university.
He met with a representative of Kodak to learn about the chemicals used in specialty photography. The plates for his books were developed and photographed by him.
In 2004, he told the online architectural forum that if it was one of his books, it would be interesting.
His goal was to bring architecture to the widest possible audience.
There was a gap between the academic, theory-heavy M.I.T. Press and the coffeetableism of Rizzoli.
Mr. Lippert was a supporter of emerging architects. The introduction to the book of the same name was written by him. Mr. Holl wrote on his website that he was a committed intellectual and impresario for the culture of architecture.
The work of Tom Kundig, an architect in the Pacific Northwest, was promoted by Mr. Lippert.
Mr. Kundig told Architectural Record that he changed a lot of people's lives. He created an architectural universe.
Kevin Lippert was born in England. His parents were studying at the University of Leeds.
The family moved to Tennessee as his father pursued his studies in analytic chemistry. Kevin grew up in Toledo.
He taught himself to play the piano when he was 4 and continued to play for the rest of his life. He got his undergraduate degree in 1980 and his master degree in 1983.
He taught at the Ivy League school. He was an early supporter of the use of computer drafting and 3-D visualization tools.
The American Academy of Arts and Letters gave him an award for architecture in 2020.
Mr. Lippert is survived by his wife, two sons, two daughters, and a sister. His previous marriages ended in divorce.
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