Gordon Davis

For the intelligence officer who used "Gordon Davis" as a pseudonym, see E. Howard Hunt.
Gordon J. Davis
Born (1941-08-07) August 7, 1941
Chicago, Illinois
Nationality American
Alma mater

Williams College (B.A.)

Harvard Law School (J.D.)
Occupation Lawyer, Civic Leader

Gordon J. Davis is a New York City based lawyer and civic leader. He is a partner at Venable LLP, where he handles complex real estate, land use development, and related environmental matters. He also oversees client relationships with, and financings from, state and municipal authorities.[1][2] Davis is the founding director of Jazz at Lincoln Center[3][4] and is a leading figure in New York City’s environmental, cultural and civic organizations.[5] He is a director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.[6]

Early life

Davis was born August 7, 1941 in Chicago, Illinois to parents William Allison Davis and Elizabeth Stubbs Davis.[6] His father was the John Dewey Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Chicago and was the university’s first black tenured professor.[7][8] The predominantly black neighborhood he grew up in fostered his interest in music, theater and poetry.[9][10]

Davis attended Hyde Park High School in Chicago.[8] He received his Bachelor of Arts in 1963 from Williams College,[6][9] where he spearheaded Ivy League involvement in the Civil Rights movement. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1967.[6] At Harvard he authored two articles in the earliest issues of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.[11][12] He married his Harvard Law School colleague Peggy Cooper Davis who is now the John S.R. Shad Professor of Lawyering and Ethics at the New York University School of Law.[13](nytlincoln) Their daughter Elizabeth Cooper Davis (1975) is an actor, scholar and social activist.[6][13][14]

Career

Public service

After graduating from law school, Davis moved to New York City to work in city government, first as special assistant to the Budget Director and later as an Assistant to Mayor John V. Lindsay.[6][13][14]

From 1973 until 1978 he was a member of the New York City Planning Commission.[5][6] In 1978 Davis became the first African American to serve as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, an appointment he received from Mayor Ed Koch.[6][13] Davis is credited with having revitalized the New York City Park system. During his time as Commissioner, Davis restored funding, accountability and citizen access to NYC parks.[14] He co-founded the Central Park Conservancy as well as the Prospect Park Conservancy. He also established the NYC Urban Park Rangers and oversaw the restoration of Sheep Meadow.[5][6][7][13][15]

Private practice

In 1983 he joined the law firm Lord, Day & Lord and later became a senior partner.[6] He remained at the firm until it closed in 1994.[7]

In 1994 Davis joined the law firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae (subsequently Dewey & LeBoeuf) as a partner.[5][6] He left Dewey & LeBoeuf in 2012 to become a partner in the law firm of Venable LLP.[5]

As a real estate attorney, Davis oversaw the development of the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History and the Samuel B. and David Rose building at Lincoln Center.[3][6][9] He was involved in the rebuilding of Ground Zero and the development of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.[10][16] He currently represents the United States Tennis Association in the expansion of its stadium facilities.[6]

Other positions

Davis served as president of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts from 2000 until 2011.[9][13] Davis is the founding director of Jazz at Lincoln Center and was a guiding force in its creation and expansion to a multi-venue facility with state-of-the-art performance spaces, educational facilities and recording studios.[9]

He is a trustee or director of: the New York Public Library, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Central Park Conservancy,[5][17] and New York Shakespeare Theater.[18]

Davis currently serves as a director of two groups of mutual funds managed by the Dreyfus Corporation.[19] He has also served on the boards of directors of the New York Magazine, the Dreyfus Corporation, Consolidated Edison, Inc., and The Phoenix Companies, Inc.[1]

In 2010 Davis was appointed to a six-year term on the board of directors for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts by President Barack Obama.[6][20]

Recognition

Davis holds an Honorary Doctor of Laws from his alma mater Williams College as well as an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Bard College.[2][10] He is a benefactor of The Davis Center at Williams College.[21] In 2001, he was honored by 100 Black Men of America for his work in public service.[2][6] In 2002 he was named one of “America’s Top Black Lawyers” by Black Enterprise magazine.[6][22]

Other awards given to Davis include the Medal of the City of New York for Exceptional Service, Harlem School of the Arts Founders Medal, a Williams College Bicentennial Medal for Distinguished Achievement, Citizen's Committee for New York Chapin Award for the Arts, the Judicial Award for Leadership from the Association of African American Federal, State, and City Judges, the Studio Museum in Harlem Leadership Award and the Prospect Park Silver Jubilee Award.[2][10]

References

  1. 1 2 "Gordon Davis". Forbes Magazine. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Gordon Davis – The Municipal Art Society of New York". The Municipal Art Society of New York. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Jazz at Lincoln Center Spring Gala". Panache Magazine. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  4. ↑ Aaron Bryant (1 November 2014). "Business of Fine Arts". Black Enterprise. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Joseph P. Freed (19 October 2003). "Following Up". New York Times. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "Gordon J. Davis". The HistoryMakers. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 Elisabeth Bumiller (21 August 1998). "PUBLIC LIVES; Lincoln Center Homecoming for Jazz Lover". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  8. 1 2 "New Allison Davis Garden in Washington Park honors a pioneer and a recommitment to inclusion". Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Ralph Blumenthal (28 October 2000). "Lincoln Center Chief Dusts Off Welcome Mat". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  10. 1 2 3 4 "Gordon J. Davis". Carnegie Hall. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  11. ↑ Davis, Gordon J.; Schwartz, Michael W. "Tenant Unions: An Experiment in Private Law-Making". Harvard Civil Rights - Civil Liberties Law Review. 2 (1966-1967): 237.
  12. ↑ Davis, Gordon J.; Hawes, Amanda. "Toward an Understanding of Decision Making in the Office of Economic Opportunity: the CDGM Affair". Harvard Civil Rights - Civil Liberties Law Review. 2 (1966-1967): 259.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ralph Blumenthal (27 October 2000). "Insider Is Chosen to Lead Lincoln Center in Rebirth". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  14. 1 2 3 Deirdre Carmody (27 January 1983). "Davis Quits Parks Post; Koch Lauds His Record". The New York Times.
  15. ↑ "Park History". Prospect Park Alliance. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  16. ↑ "2013 Year End Update" (PDF). 9/11 Memorial. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  17. ↑ "Gordon J. Davis". NNDB. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  18. ↑ "Board of Trustees". The Public Theater. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  19. ↑ "Statement of Additional Information" (PDF). Dreyfus Corporation. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  20. ↑ "President Obama has nominated Gordon J. Davis, Fred Eychaner, Charles B. Ortner and Penny Pritzker to serve on the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts". Hill. 1 October 2010.
  21. ↑ Katherine Preston (24 October 2012). "MCC celebrates rededication as Davis Center". The Williams Record. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  22. ↑ Staff (1 November 2003). "America's Lawyers Black". Black Enterprise. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
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