Donn Morey, 61; President of Land-Use Firm Helped Secure Approvals for Getty Project

Donn Morey, president and chief executive of The Morey Group, a governmental relations and land-use firm based in Santa Monica, died April 21 at Cedars Sinai Medical Center while recuperating from surgery. He was 61.

Morey worked on a number of major building projects in the area, including the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Century City Shopping Center and the Sanwa Bank building. He worked for more than 15 years as a planning official for the city of Los Angeles before opening his consulting business, with Jeffrey Seymour, in Santa Monica.

According to a Times story in 1998, his biggest project was on behalf of the Getty Center in Brentwood. Morey’s firm -- Morey/Snyder & Associates -- spent seven years securing city permits and approvals for the $1-billion, 100-acre project.

Curt Williams, director of operations for the Getty Foundation, praised Morey for persuading the city’s building department to assign several officials exclusively to the art complex project -- a move that saved time.

In 1998, Morey, along with former USC football star Anthony Davis and Irvine financial planner Walter Burrows, made news when they proposed turning the site of the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into a football stadium with hopes of luring a National Football League franchise. The plan failed.

Morey’s family is prominent in the history of Little Tokyo.

Before World War II, his grandfather, Bunguro Morey, owned a large mercantile store on the site of what is now the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters, Parker Center.

After the outbreak of the war, the family was relocated to a camp at Santa Anita race track and then to an internment camp in Granada, Colo.

Donn Morey earned a bachelor’s degree at UCLA and attended USC law school.

He is survived by three brothers: John and twins Jim and Jack.

Services are scheduled for 11 a.m. today at Centenary United Methodist Church, 300 Central Ave., Los Angeles.