Joan K. Davidson
In addition to her leadership of Furthermore, Joan K. Davidson chaired the 2009 Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial Commission, chaired the New York State Council on the Arts, and was commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation.
From 1977 to 1993, Joan Davidson was president of the J. M. Kaplan Fund, a New York philanthropic foundation established by her father in 1945 and well known for its innovative support of the environment, preservation, the arts, and civil liberties. Now president emeritus and a member of the Fund’s Board of Trustees, she continues to advocate for the architecture, design, and quality of life of New
York City.
Joan Davidson has served and continues to serve on several boards. Among them are the Natural Resources Defense Council; National Trust for Historic Preservation; American Farmland Trust; South Street Seaport Museum; New York Shakespeare Festival; Cooper-Hewitt Museum; Human Rights Watch; Nature Conservancy; Legal Defense Fund; Hudson River Foundation; Historic Hudson Valley; and Preservation League of New York State. She is a Morgan Library Life Fellow and a Life Member of the Municipal Art Society.
Joan Davidson’s visionary leadership in the areas of preservation, the arts, and the enhancement of City life has been recognized with numerous awards and honors. Notable among them are the American Institute of Architects Award, City Club of New York’s Albert S. Bard Award, City of New York’s Doris Freedman Award, The New School’s Fiorello H. LaGuardia Award, Historic District Council’s Landmark Lion Award, New York Landmarks Conservancy’s Lucy G. Moses Award, Museum
of the City of New York’s Silver Dollar Award, and Preservation League of New York State’s Pillar of New York Award. In 2013 she was the recipient of the Adirondack Museum’s Harold K. Hochschild Award and an Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal.
Joan Davidson is a graduate of Cornell University and the Bank College of Education. She lives in New York City and in the Hudson River Valley.
