Terence Riley

Terence Riley (November 6, 1954 – May 17, 2021) was an American architect and museum curator. He was the chief curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art from 1992 to 2006.

Early life and education Riley was born in Elgin, Illinois, son of Philip Riley a printer, and Mary Jo (Lundberg) Riley, a homemaker. He grew up in Woodstock, Illinois, and graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a B.Arch in 1978, followed by an M.Arch at Columbia University in 1982.

Career In 1984, Riley formed the firm Keenen/Riley in 1984 with John Keenen. As a member of ACT UP, Riley worked on Let The Record Show…, a window installation that opened at the New Museum in 1987. In 1990, he opened the Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery at Columbia, and was recruited by Philip Johnson a year later to work at the Museum of Modern Art, becoming Philip Johnson Chief Curator for architecture and design in 1992. He helped to found the MoMA/P.S.1 Young Architects Program. In 2006 he became director of the Miami Art Museum, stepping down in 2009 to return to architectural practice in Miami.