Leonard Eaton passed away on April 1, 2014 at the age of 92. Eaton was appointed to the faculty In 1950 and was named professor of architecture in 1964. In 1985, he became the Emil Lorch Professor of Architecture and was granted emeritus status by the Regents of the University of Michigan in 1989.

During his career at the University of Michigan he published extensively on architecture and architectural history. His books include New England Hospitals (1957); Landscape Artist in America (1964), a study of the work of landscape architect Jens Jensen, chief designer of the western section of the Chicago, Illinois park system; Two Chicago Architects and Their Clients (with Elizabeth Douvan) (1969), a study of the clients and work of architects Howard Van Doren Shaw and Frank Lloyd Wright; American Architecture Comes of Age (1972), an examination of European reaction to the work of Henry Hobson Richardson and Louis Sullivan; Gateway Cities and Other Essays (1989), a study of Midwestern warehouse architecture and Hardy Cross, American Engineer (2006) a study of the groundbreaking work of structural engineer Hardy Cross.

Eaton also served as an adviser about matters related to Frank Lloyd Wright to Domino's Pizza founder Thomas Monaghan. With Monaghan's sponsorship he organized three significant conferences in Ann Arbor on Wright's work.

Beyond his tenure at the University of Michigan, Eaton received a Bronze Star for bravery in combat at Torre Iussi, Italy during World War II. He received his Ph.D. in American Civilization from Harvard in 1951. In 1985 he was awarded the Frederic Lindley Morgan Chair of Architectural Design at the University of Louisville and was was the recipient of numerous grants and awards to advance scholarship in architectural history from, among others, the Ford Foundation and the Fulbright Foundation. He was a member of the Society of Architectural Historians for over 50 years.