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'''Gordon Jamison Davis,''' a partner in the New York office of the law firm [[Venable LLP]], was born in [[Chicago]] in 1941 and has been a resident of [[New York City]] since his graduation from [[Harvard Law School]] in 1967.<ref name="history">{{cite web|url=http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/gordon-j-davis|title=Gordon J. Davis|publisher=The HistoryMakers|accessdate=23 December 2014}}</ref> Mr. Davis has been a prominent leader in New York City's public, civic, and legal affairs for four decades.<ref name="history" /> He was Mayor Ed Koch’s first commissioner of parks and recreation<ref name="history" /> and is considered one of New York’s most successful parks commissioners. He was one of the first African Americans to become a partner in a major New York corporate law firm (Lord Day & Lord, 1983).<ref name="history" /><ref>M. Luo, "Top Black Donors See Obama's Rise as Their Own," ''New York Times'', August 28, 2008.</ref> He is the Founding Chairman of [[Jazz at Lincoln Center]],<ref name="history" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jazz.org/leadership/|title=Leadership|last=|first=|date=|website=Jazz at Lincoln Center|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=May 2, 2017}}</ref><ref>Aaron Bryant, "Business of Fine Arts," ''[[Black Enterprise]]'', November 1, 2014.</ref> one of the four Founding Trustees of the [[Central Park Conservancy]],<ref name="history" /> a Founding Member in the first class inducted into the Performing Arts Hall of Fame at Lincoln Center<ref>"Lincoln Center to Create First-Ever Hall of Fame all of the Performing Arts," [[Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts|Lincoln Center]] Press Release, January 22, 2016</ref>, a Life Trustee of the [[New York Public Library]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nypl.org/help/about-nypl/leadership/board-trustees|title=Board of Trustees|last=|first=|date=|website=New York Public Library|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=March 1, 2017}}</ref> an appointee of [[Barack Obama|President Barack Obama]] to the board of the [[John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts|Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts]],<ref name="history" /><ref name="hill" /> and a recipient of an honorary degree (LL.D.) and the Bicentennial Medal from his alma mater, [[Williams College]].<ref name="history" />
'''Gordon Jamison Davis,''' a partner in the New York office of the law firm [[Venable LLP]], was born in [[Chicago]] in 1941 and has been a resident of [[New York City]] since his graduation from [[Harvard Law School]] in 1967.<ref name="history">{{cite web|url=http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/gordon-j-davis|title=Gordon J. Davis|publisher=The HistoryMakers|accessdate=23 December 2014}}</ref> Mr. Davis has been a prominent leader in New York City's public, civic, and legal affairs for four decades.<ref name="history" /> He was Mayor Ed Koch’s first commissioner of parks and recreation<ref name="history" /> and is considered one of New York’s most successful parks commissioners. He was one of the first African Americans to become a partner in a major New York corporate law firm (Lord Day & Lord, 1983).<ref name="history" /><ref name=":0">M. Luo, "Top Black Donors See Obama's Rise as Their Own," ''New York Times'', August 28, 2008.</ref> He is the Founding Chairman of [[Jazz at Lincoln Center]],<ref name="history" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jazz.org/leadership/|title=Leadership|last=|first=|date=|website=Jazz at Lincoln Center|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=May 2, 2017}}</ref><ref>Aaron Bryant, "Business of Fine Arts," ''[[Black Enterprise]]'', November 1, 2014.</ref> one of the four Founding Trustees of the [[Central Park Conservancy]],<ref name="history" /> a Founding Member in the first class inducted into the Performing Arts Hall of Fame at Lincoln Center<ref name=":1">"Lincoln Center to Create First-Ever Hall of Fame all of the Performing Arts," [[Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts|Lincoln Center]] Press Release, January 22, 2016</ref>, a Life Trustee of the [[New York Public Library]],<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nypl.org/help/about-nypl/leadership/board-trustees|title=Board of Trustees|last=|first=|date=|website=New York Public Library|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=March 1, 2017}}</ref> an appointee of [[Barack Obama|President Barack Obama]] to the board of the [[John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts|Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts]],<ref name="history" /><ref name="hill">{{cite news|title=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|date=1 October 2010|work=Hill}}</ref> and a recipient of an honorary degree (LL.D.) and the Bicentennial Medal from his alma mater, [[Williams College]].<ref name="history" />


==Early life and Education==
==Early life and Education==
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Davis attended the public [[Hyde Park Academy High School|Hyde Park High School]] and then the private [[Francis W. Parker School (Chicago)|Francis Parker School]]. He attended [[Williams College]], where he graduated in 1963. At Williams, Davis was the vice president of the senior honor society Gargoyle and the co-founder and co-chair of the Williams Civil Rights Committee. The Davis Center at Williams College, established in 2012 to address issues of diversity and inclusion, was named for and commemorates the work of Gordon Davis’s father and uncle, W. Allison Davis (Williams ’24) and John A. Davis (Williams ’33).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://davis-center.williams.edu/|title=Mission Statement|last=|first=|date=|website=The Davis Center|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=}}</ref>
Davis attended the public [[Hyde Park Academy High School|Hyde Park High School]] and then the private [[Francis W. Parker School (Chicago)|Francis Parker School]]. He attended [[Williams College]], where he graduated in 1963. At Williams, Davis was the vice president of the senior honor society Gargoyle and the co-founder and co-chair of the Williams Civil Rights Committee. The Davis Center at Williams College, established in 2012 to address issues of diversity and inclusion, was named for and commemorates the work of Gordon Davis’s father and uncle, W. Allison Davis (Williams ’24) and John A. Davis (Williams ’33).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://davis-center.williams.edu/|title=Mission Statement|last=|first=|date=|website=The Davis Center|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=}}</ref>


Following graduate studies at [[Columbia University]] (1963-1964), Davis attended [[Harvard Law School]], where he graduated in 1967.<ref name="history" /> He was a founder of the Harvard Law School Black Law Students Association (one of the first BLSA chapters in the country).<ref>Harvard Law School, September 16, 2016, Dean Martha Minow, Statement of Recognition</ref> He was one of the earliest contributors to the newly established [[Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review]] (Volume II of the Review (spring 1967);<ref>[[Gordon Davis|G. Davis]] and M. Schwartz, "Tenant Unions, an Experiment in Private Law Making." [[Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review|Harv. Civ. Lib.-Civ. Rights L. Rev.]] 2 (2) (1967), p. 237</ref><ref>[[Gordon Davis|G. Davis]] and A. Hawes, "Toward an Understanding of Decision Making in the Office of Economic Opportunity." [[Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review|Harv. Civ. Lib.-Civ. Rights L. Rev.]] 2 (2) (1967)</ref> (See various later publications and comments in1981, 1983, 2004, and 2015).<ref>G. Davis, Report and Determination in the Matter of Christo: The Gates. New York: [[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation|NYC Department of Parks]], 1981</ref><ref>G. Davis, Introduction. In Ruth Orkin, More Pictures from My Window. New York: Rizzoli, 1983</ref><ref>G. Davis, "The Crisis" Correspondence of W. Allison Davis and [[W. E. B. Du Bois|W. E. B. DuBois]], lecture, New York: Century Association, 2004</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/24/opinion/what-woodrow-wilson-cost-my-grandfather.html|title=What Woodrow Wilson Cost My Grandfather|last=Davis|first=Gordon|date=November 24, 2015|work=The New York Times|access-date=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref>
Following graduate studies at [[Columbia University]] (1963-1964), Davis attended [[Harvard Law School]], where he graduated in 1967.<ref name="history" /> He was a founder of the Harvard Law School Black Law Students Association (one of the first BLSA chapters in the country).<ref>Harvard Law School, September 16, 2016, Dean Martha Minow, Statement of Recognition</ref> He was one of the earliest contributors to the newly established [[Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review]] (Volume II of the Review (spring 1967);<ref>[[Gordon Davis|G. Davis]] and M. Schwartz, "Tenant Unions, an Experiment in Private Law Making." [[Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review|Harv. Civ. Lib.-Civ. Rights L. Rev.]] 2 (2) (1967), p. 237</ref><ref>[[Gordon Davis|G. Davis]] and A. Hawes, "Toward an Understanding of Decision Making in the Office of Economic Opportunity." [[Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review|Harv. Civ. Lib.-Civ. Rights L. Rev.]] 2 (2) (1967)</ref> (See various later publications and comments in 1981, 1983, 2004, and 2015).<ref>G. Davis, Report and Determination in the Matter of Christo: The Gates. New York: [[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation|NYC Department of Parks]], 1981</ref><ref>G. Davis, Introduction. In Ruth Orkin, More Pictures from My Window. New York: Rizzoli, 1983</ref><ref>G. Davis, "The Crisis" Correspondence of W. Allison Davis and [[W. E. B. Du Bois|W. E. B. DuBois]], lecture, New York: Century Association, 2004</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/24/opinion/what-woodrow-wilson-cost-my-grandfather.html|title=What Woodrow Wilson Cost My Grandfather|last=Davis|first=Gordon|date=November 24, 2015|work=The New York Times|access-date=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref>


==Career==
==Career==


===Public service===
===Government and Public service===
Beginning in the reform administration of New York Mayor [[John Lindsay|John V. Lindsay]] in 1967, Davis's public service spanned more than three decades, during which time he was a City official appointed by or an advisor to New York Mayors John V. Lindsay, Edward I. Koch, [[David Dinkins]], and [[Michael Bloomberg]]. He was a special assistant to Mayor Lindsay and secretary of the Mayor's Cabinet. In 1973 Lindsay appointed Davis to be a commissioner of the seven-member [[New York City Department of City Planning|New York City Planning Commission]] (during his city planning service Davis was affiliated with the law firm of Poletti Friedan Praskher Feldman).<ref name="history" /> In January 1978 he was appointed by Mayor Edward Koch as Commissioner of Parks and Recreation. As Parks Commissioner from 1978 to spring 1983, Davis was widely credited with reviving and restoring New York's parks after the City's fiscal collapse, and is "still considered one of the most successful parks commissioners in the city's history."<ref name="times3">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/21/nyregion/public-lives-lincoln-center-homecoming-for-jazz-lover.html|title=PUBLIC LIVES; Lincoln Center Homecoming for Jazz Lover|date=21 August 1998|work=The New York Times|author=Elisabeth Bumiller|accessdate=23 December 2014}}</ref>
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 Lindsay|John V. Lindsay]].<ref name=history/><ref name="nytlincoln">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/27/nyregion/insider-is-chosen-to-lead-lincoln-center-in-rebirth.html|title=Insider Is Chosen to Lead Lincoln Center in Rebirth|date=27 October 2000|work=The New York Times|author=Ralph Blumenthal|accessdate=23 December 2014}}</ref><ref name="nytquit">{{cite news|title=Davis Quits Parks Post; Koch Lauds His Record|date=27 January 1983|work=The New York Times|author=Deirdre Carmody}}</ref>


His many innovations as Parks Commissioner included the urban park rangers, borough decentralization, privatization of the city's 13 golf courses, the revival of [[Bryant Park]] through the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation, establishment of the [[Prospect Park (Brooklyn)|Prospect Park]] administrator's office, and the founding of the [[Central Park Conservancy]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=Parks Boss|last=Herman|first=R.|date=August 19, 1979|work=The New York Times|access-date=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=The Prince of Central Park|last=Coombs|first=O.|date=November 9, 1981|work=New York Magazine|access-date=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/30/weekinreview/grass-grew-under-davis-that-s-good.html|title=Grass Grew under Davis; That's Good|last=Carmody|first=D.|date=January 30, 1983|work=The New York Times|access-date=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref>
From 1973 until 1978 he was a member of the [[New York City Planning Commission]].<ref name="nytimes1">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/19/nyregion/following-up.html|title=Following Up|date=19 October 2003|work=New York Times|author=Joseph P. Freed|accessdate=23 December 2014}}</ref><ref name=history/> 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]].<ref name=history/><ref name=nytlincoln/> 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.<ref name=nytquit/> He co-founded the [[Central Park Conservancy]] as well as the [[Prospect Park (Brooklyn)|Prospect Park Conservancy]]. He also established the NYC Urban Park Rangers and oversaw the restoration of [[Sheep Meadow]].<ref name=nytimes1/><ref name=history/><ref name="times3">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/21/nyregion/public-lives-lincoln-center-homecoming-for-jazz-lover.html|title=PUBLIC LIVES; Lincoln Center Homecoming for Jazz Lover|date=21 August 1998|work=The New York Times|author=Elisabeth Bumiller|accessdate=23 December 2014}}</ref><ref name=nytlincoln/><ref name=prospect>{{cite web |title=Park History |publisher=Prospect Park Alliance |url=http://prospectpark.org/learn-more/park-history-slideshow/ |accessdate=23 December 2014}}</ref>


Following the Koch administration, Davis was a key member of Mayor David Dinkins' transition committee and later served as chair of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 2001-2002 criminal justice transition committee.<ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=Dinkins Transition Team|last=Purdum|first=T.|date=November 15, 1989|work=The New York Times|access-date=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref>
⚫
===Private practice===
In 1983 he joined the law firm [[Lord Day & Lord|Lord, Day & Lord]] and later became a senior partner.<ref name=history/> He remained at the firm until it closed in 1994.<ref name=times3/>


⚫
===Private law practice===
In 1994 Davis joined the law firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae (subsequently [[Dewey & LeBoeuf]]) as a partner.<ref name=nytimes1/><ref name=history/> He left Dewey & LeBoeuf in 2012 to become a partner in the law firm of [[Venable LLP]].<ref name=nytimes1/>
Since 2012, Davis has been a partner in the New York office of ''The American Lawyer'' 100 firm, [[Venable LLP]]. He first became a partner in a large New York firm when he joined Lord Day & Lord in April 1983. At the time, he was one of only five African Americans who were partners in a New York Wall Street–type corporate law firm.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/11/us/the-law-for-black-partners-in-top-firms-lunch-is-special.html|title=THE LAW; For Black Partners in Top Firms, Lunch Is Special|last=Williams|first=L.|date=December 11, 1987|work=The New York Times|access-date=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=Blacks – Partners|last=Taylor|first=J.|date=April 18, 1988|work=New York Magazine|access-date=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref> From 1994 to 2012 Mr. Davis was a partner at Leboeuf Lamb Green & McRae. In 2001 he took a leave of absence from Leboeuf to serve as president of Lincoln Center Inc.<ref name="nyt2">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/28/arts/lincoln-center-chief-dusts-off-welcome-mat.html|title=Lincoln Center Chief Dusts Off Welcome Mat|date=28 October 2000|work=The New York Times|author=Ralph Blumenthal|accessdate=23 December 2014}}</ref><ref name="history" /> (Leboeuf Lamb became Dewey & Leboeuf after its merger with Dewey Ballantine 2007). Throughout his years in private practice in the areas of real estate development and not-for-profit institutions, Davis has represented a wide variety of highly regarded institutions in some of the most important public-private projects in New York City, including the [[New York Public Library]], [[Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts]], Mt. Sinai Medical Center, [[Amtrak]], the [[USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center|Billie Jean King National Tennis Center]] and the [[United States Tennis Association]], [[Jazz at Lincoln Center]], the [[American Museum of Natural History]], the [[Studio Museum in Harlem]], and the [[National September 11 Memorial & Museum|9/11 Memorial and Museum]] by the [[Lower Manhattan Development Corporation]].


Davis has been recognized as one of New York's most accomplished lawyers and as one of the nation's top African American lawyers.<ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=Best Lawyers in New York|last=Pogrebin|first=R.|date=March 20, 1995|work=New York|access-date=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=America's Top Black Lawyers|last=|first=|date=November 2003|work=Black Enterprise|access-date=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref> Mr. Davis and [[Conrad K. Harper|Conrad Harper]] of Simpson Thatcher organized the concerted efforts of New York's African American law partners which led the [[New York State Bar Association|New York Bar Association]] in the late 1980s to establish the Vance Committee to Enhance Professional Opportunities for Minorities (chaired by Cyrus Vance, Sr. and composed of the leaders of New York's 35 major law firms).<ref>New York Bar Association, Statement of Goals For Increasing Minority Retention and Promotion, Committee to Enhance Professional Opportunities for Minorities in the Profession, September 1991</ref>
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.<ref name="panache">{{cite news|url=http://www.panachemag.com/Web/BeSeen/JazzAtLC/SpringGala.asp|title=Jazz at Lincoln Center Spring Gala|work=Panache Magazine|accessdate=23 December 2014|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224020423/http://www.panachemag.com/Web/BeSeen/JazzAtLC/SpringGala.asp|archivedate=24 December 2014|df=}}</ref><ref name=history/><ref name="nyt2">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/28/arts/lincoln-center-chief-dusts-off-welcome-mat.html|title=Lincoln Center Chief Dusts Off Welcome Mat|date=28 October 2000|work=The New York Times|author=Ralph Blumenthal|accessdate=23 December 2014}}</ref> He was involved in the rebuilding of Ground Zero and the development of the [[National September 11 Memorial & Museum]].<ref name="carnegie">{{cite web|url=http://www.carnegiehall.org/honor/artists/artistDetail.aspx?art=gdavis|title=Gordon J. Davis|publisher=Carnegie Hall|accessdate=23 December 2014}}</ref><ref name=sep11>{{cite web |title=2013 Year End Update |publisher=9/11 Memorial |url=http://www.911memorial.org/sites/all/files/YearEnd2013.pdf |accessdate=23 December 2014}}</ref> He currently represents the [[United States Tennis Association]] in the expansion of its stadium facilities.<ref name=history/>


=== Civic and Cultural Involvement ===
===Other positions===
Davis has been involved with a broad spectrum of civic, not-for-profit, and cultural organizations. He is one of the four Founding Trustees of the Central Park Conservancy who, together with Mayor Koch, conceived and established the Conservancy in 1980–1982. The Conservancy has completely restored and rebuilt and now maintains the Olmsted and Vaux landmark Central Park.<ref>''See'' 10/20/15 Central Park Conservancy Board Resolutions designating as its Founding Trustees Elizabeth Barlow Rodgers, William Sperry Beinecke, Richard Gilder, and Gordon J. Davis</ref> Davis is the Founding Chairman of Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC). In 1989 he  joined renowned jazz musician and educator [[Wynton Marsalis]], Lincoln Center chairman George Weisman and author [[Albert Murray (writer)|Albert Murray]] , among others, to spearhead the founding of JALC.<ref>The original members of the committee whose 1989-90 report and recommendation to the board of Lincoln Center led to the establishment of JALC were Gordon J. Davis (chair), Mario Baeza, William Butcher, Mary Schmidt Campbell, Diane Coffey, Ahmet Ertegun, June Larkin, Wynton Marsalis, Tony Marshall, Albert Murray, Jonathan Rose, and Richard Schwartz. Ex officio members were George Weissman, Alina Bloomgarden, Stanley Crouch, and Nat Leventhal</ref> As chairman of JALC from its inception in 1989 until 2001, Davis "was a driving force in [JALC] becoming an independent constituent of Lincoln Center Inc., in July 1996, equal to each of the other performing arts on the Lincoln Center campus and also in the conception and construction of [JALC's] home [[Frederick P. Rose Hall]], the 'House of Swing'."<ref name="times3" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=In the Spirit of Swing: The First 25 Years of Jazz at Lincoln Center|last=The Editors at Jazz at Lincoln Center|first=|publisher=Chronicle Books|year=2012|isbn=|location=|pages=}}</ref>  
Davis served as president of the [[Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts]] from 2000 until 2011.<ref name=nyt2/><ref name=nytlincoln/> 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.<ref name=nyt2/>


Davis, who served as president of Lincoln Center in 2001,<ref name="nyt2" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://nymag.com/news/articles/02/metsoap/|title=The Metropolitan Soap Opera|last=Bennetts|first=L.|date=February 4, 2002|work=New York Magazine|access-date=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref> was selected in 2016 as a Founding Member of the Performing Arts Hall of Fame at Lincoln Center.<ref name=":1" /> He is a Life Trustee of the New York Public Library<ref name=":2" /> and was appointed in 2010 by President [[Barack Obama]] to serve a six-year term as a trustee of the [[John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts|Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts]].<ref name="hill" />
He is a trustee or director of: the [[New York Public Library]], the [[Studio Museum in Harlem]], the [[Central Park Conservancy]],<ref name=nytimes1/><ref name=nndb>{{cite web |title=Gordon J. Davis |publisher=NNDB |url=http://www.nndb.com/people/152/000171636/ |accessdate=23 December 2014}}</ref> and [[The Public Theater|New York Shakespeare Theater]].<ref name=shakespeare>{{cite web |title=Board of Trustees |publisher=The Public Theater |url=http://publictheater.org/en/programs--events/shakespeare-in-the-park/about/?SiteTheme=Shakespeare# |accessdate=23 December 2014}}</ref>


In addition, Davis continues to be an active board member of the [[Studio Museum in Harlem]], the [[The Public Theater|New York Public Theater]]/Shakespeare Festival, and as pro bono general counsel for the [[Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center|Aaron Diamond Aids Research Center]] (having served each institution in those capacities for over 20 years).
Davis currently serves as a director of two groups of mutual funds managed by the [[Dreyfus Corporation]].<ref name=dreyfus>{{cite web|title=Statement of Additional Information |publisher=Dreyfus Corporation |url=https://public.dreyfus.com/compliance/pdf/sai/0462_sai.pdf |accessdate=23 December 2014 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303211855/https://public.dreyfus.com/compliance/pdf/sai/0462_sai.pdf |archivedate=3 March 2016 |df= }}</ref> 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.<ref name="forbes">{{cite web|url=http://www.forbes.com/profile/gordon-davis/|title=Gordon Davis|publisher=Forbes Magazine|accessdate=23 December 2014}}</ref>


=== Corporate Boards ===
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]].<ref name=history/><ref name=hill>{{cite news |title=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 |work=Hill |date=1 October 2010}}</ref>
Mr. Davis has served on the boards of a number of public companies, including [[Consolidated Edison|Con Edison]], Phoenix Home Life Inc., [[New York (magazine)|New York Magazine, Inc.]], and the [[Dreyfus Corporation]]. He continues to serve on the boards of two groups of BNY Mellon Dreyfus mutual funds.


==Recognition==
==Recognition==
Mr. Davis holds honorary degrees from [[Williams College]] (Doctor of Laws) and [[Bard College]] (Doctor of Humane Letters). He is a recipient of the Williams College Bicentennial Medal, the Central Park Conservancy Frederick Law Olmsted Medal, and the Medal of the City of New York for Exceptional Service. He has also been honored by the New York 100 Hundred Black Men, the [[The Harlem School of the Arts|Harlem School of the Arts]] (Founders Medal), the [[Dance Theatre of Harlem|Dance Theater of Harlem]], The Citizens Committee for New York (Chapin Award for the Arts), New Yorkers for Parks, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Prospect Park Alliance.
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]].<ref name="mas">{{cite web|url=http://www.mas.org/summitnyc/speakers/gordon-davis/|title=Gordon Davis – The Municipal Art Society of New York|publisher=The Municipal Art Society of New York|accessdate=23 December 2014}}</ref><ref name=carnegie/> He is a benefactor of The Davis Center at Williams College.<ref name=williams>{{cite news |title=MCC celebrates rededication as Davis Center |author=Katherine Preston |date=24 October 2012 |publisher=The Williams Record |url=http://williamsrecord.com/2012/10/24/mcc-celebrates-rededication-as-davis-center/ |accessdate=23 December 2014}}</ref> In 2001, he was honored by [[100 Black Men of America]] for his work in public service.<ref name=mas/><ref name=history/> In 2002 he was named one of “America’s Top Black Lawyers” by ''[[Black Enterprise]]'' magazine.<ref name=history/><ref name=blackenterprise>{{cite news |title=America's Lawyers Black |author=Staff |work=Black Enterprise |date=1 November 2003 |url=http://www.blackenterprise.com/mag/americas-lawyers-black/19/ |accessdate=23 December 2014}}</ref>


== Family ==
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.<ref name=mas/><ref name=carnegie/>
Davis is married (1968) to [https://its.law.nyu.edu/facultyprofiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.overview&personid=19866 Peggy Cooper Davis], a former New York State Family Court judge who is the John S. R. Shad Professor of Lawyering and Ethics at the [[New York University School of Law|New York University Law School]]. Professor Davis has published extensively on a wide interdisciplinary range of subjects, most notably the constitutional status of family rights. She is considered an important leader in innovation and changing law school pedagogy.<ref>[http://ms-jd.org/blog/article/peggy-cooper-davis-most-influential-woman-legal-education Peggy Cooper Davis:  Most Influential Woman in Legal Education], Ms. JD, January 19, 2009</ref>

A 1968 graduate of [[Harvard Law School]], Professor Davis was an editor of the ''Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review'' and a founder of the Harvard Law School Black Law Student Association.

The Davises have a daughter, Elizabeth Cooper Davis, a performing artist and educator, NYU (M.A.); Harvard University (Ph.D. expected 2017). Ms. Davis joins the faculty of [[Emerson College]] in August 2017 as an Assistant Professor – Applied Theater.

Davis' brother, Allison Stubbs Davis (b. August 31, 1939) lives in Chicago. He is a lawyer, real estate developer, and community planner.<ref>[http://davisgroupllc.com/staff/allison-s-davis/ The Davis Group], "Allison S. Davis"</ref>


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 15:08, 3 May 2017

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 (age 82)
Chicago, Illinois
NationalityAmerican
Alma materWilliams College (B.A.) Harvard Law School (J.D.)
Occupation(s)Lawyer, Civic Leader

Gordon Jamison Davis, a partner in the New York office of the law firm Venable LLP, was born in Chicago in 1941 and has been a resident of New York City since his graduation from Harvard Law School in 1967.[1] Mr. Davis has been a prominent leader in New York City's public, civic, and legal affairs for four decades.[1] He was Mayor Ed Koch’s first commissioner of parks and recreation[1] and is considered one of New York’s most successful parks commissioners. He was one of the first African Americans to become a partner in a major New York corporate law firm (Lord Day & Lord, 1983).[1][2] He is the Founding Chairman of Jazz at Lincoln Center,[1][3][4] one of the four Founding Trustees of the Central Park Conservancy,[1] a Founding Member in the first class inducted into the Performing Arts Hall of Fame at Lincoln Center[5], a Life Trustee of the New York Public Library,[6] an appointee of President Barack Obama to the board of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,[1][7] and a recipient of an honorary degree (LL.D.) and the Bicentennial Medal from his alma mater, Williams College.[1]

Early life and Education

Gordon J. Davis was born in Chicago on August 7, 1941, where he lived on the South Side in the Woodlawn/Englewood area and then in the Hyde Park-Kenwood neighborhood next to the University of Chicago. His parents were Dr. W. Allison Davis and Elizabeth Stubbs Davis, both Harvard and the University of London trained social anthropologists who collaborated on groundbreaking social-anthropological studies of caste and class in the American South in the 1930s and 1940s.[1][8][9] Dr. Davis became the John Dewey Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Chicago. Earlier, when the University granted Dr. Davis tenure in 1947, he became the first African American to be granted tenure status at any white institution of higher education—college or university, public or private—in the United States.[10] A U.S. postage stamp commemorating Dr. Davis and his pioneering work in the social sciences and education of disadvantaged Americans was issued in 1994.[11]

Davis attended the public Hyde Park High School and then the private Francis Parker School. He attended Williams College, where he graduated in 1963. At Williams, Davis was the vice president of the senior honor society Gargoyle and the co-founder and co-chair of the Williams Civil Rights Committee. The Davis Center at Williams College, established in 2012 to address issues of diversity and inclusion, was named for and commemorates the work of Gordon Davis’s father and uncle, W. Allison Davis (Williams ’24) and John A. Davis (Williams ’33).[12]

Following graduate studies at Columbia University (1963-1964), Davis attended Harvard Law School, where he graduated in 1967.[1] He was a founder of the Harvard Law School Black Law Students Association (one of the first BLSA chapters in the country).[13] He was one of the earliest contributors to the newly established Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review (Volume II of the Review (spring 1967);[14][15] (See various later publications and comments in 1981, 1983, 2004, and 2015).[16][17][18][19]

Career

Government and Public service

Beginning in the reform administration of New York Mayor John V. Lindsay in 1967, Davis's public service spanned more than three decades, during which time he was a City official appointed by or an advisor to New York Mayors John V. Lindsay, Edward I. Koch, David Dinkins, and Michael Bloomberg. He was a special assistant to Mayor Lindsay and secretary of the Mayor's Cabinet. In 1973 Lindsay appointed Davis to be a commissioner of the seven-member New York City Planning Commission (during his city planning service Davis was affiliated with the law firm of Poletti Friedan Praskher Feldman).[1] In January 1978 he was appointed by Mayor Edward Koch as Commissioner of Parks and Recreation. As Parks Commissioner from 1978 to spring 1983, Davis was widely credited with reviving and restoring New York's parks after the City's fiscal collapse, and is "still considered one of the most successful parks commissioners in the city's history."[20]

His many innovations as Parks Commissioner included the urban park rangers, borough decentralization, privatization of the city's 13 golf courses, the revival of Bryant Park through the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation, establishment of the Prospect Park administrator's office, and the founding of the Central Park Conservancy.[21][22][23]

Following the Koch administration, Davis was a key member of Mayor David Dinkins' transition committee and later served as chair of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 2001-2002 criminal justice transition committee.[24]

Private law practice

Since 2012, Davis has been a partner in the New York office of The American Lawyer 100 firm, Venable LLP. He first became a partner in a large New York firm when he joined Lord Day & Lord in April 1983. At the time, he was one of only five African Americans who were partners in a New York Wall Street–type corporate law firm.[2][25][26] From 1994 to 2012 Mr. Davis was a partner at Leboeuf Lamb Green & McRae. In 2001 he took a leave of absence from Leboeuf to serve as president of Lincoln Center Inc.[27][1] (Leboeuf Lamb became Dewey & Leboeuf after its merger with Dewey Ballantine 2007). Throughout his years in private practice in the areas of real estate development and not-for-profit institutions, Davis has represented a wide variety of highly regarded institutions in some of the most important public-private projects in New York City, including the New York Public Library, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Mt. Sinai Medical Center, Amtrak, the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and the United States Tennis Association, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the American Museum of Natural History, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the 9/11 Memorial and Museum by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.

Davis has been recognized as one of New York's most accomplished lawyers and as one of the nation's top African American lawyers.[28][29] Mr. Davis and Conrad Harper of Simpson Thatcher organized the concerted efforts of New York's African American law partners which led the New York Bar Association in the late 1980s to establish the Vance Committee to Enhance Professional Opportunities for Minorities (chaired by Cyrus Vance, Sr. and composed of the leaders of New York's 35 major law firms).[30]

Civic and Cultural Involvement

Davis has been involved with a broad spectrum of civic, not-for-profit, and cultural organizations. He is one of the four Founding Trustees of the Central Park Conservancy who, together with Mayor Koch, conceived and established the Conservancy in 1980–1982. The Conservancy has completely restored and rebuilt and now maintains the Olmsted and Vaux landmark Central Park.[31] Davis is the Founding Chairman of Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC). In 1989 he  joined renowned jazz musician and educator Wynton Marsalis, Lincoln Center chairman George Weisman and author Albert Murray , among others, to spearhead the founding of JALC.[32] As chairman of JALC from its inception in 1989 until 2001, Davis "was a driving force in [JALC] becoming an independent constituent of Lincoln Center Inc., in July 1996, equal to each of the other performing arts on the Lincoln Center campus and also in the conception and construction of [JALC's] home Frederick P. Rose Hall, the 'House of Swing'."[20][33]  

Davis, who served as president of Lincoln Center in 2001,[27][34] was selected in 2016 as a Founding Member of the Performing Arts Hall of Fame at Lincoln Center.[5] He is a Life Trustee of the New York Public Library[6] and was appointed in 2010 by President Barack Obama to serve a six-year term as a trustee of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.[7]

In addition, Davis continues to be an active board member of the Studio Museum in Harlem, the New York Public Theater/Shakespeare Festival, and as pro bono general counsel for the Aaron Diamond Aids Research Center (having served each institution in those capacities for over 20 years).

Corporate Boards

Mr. Davis has served on the boards of a number of public companies, including Con Edison, Phoenix Home Life Inc., New York Magazine, Inc., and the Dreyfus Corporation. He continues to serve on the boards of two groups of BNY Mellon Dreyfus mutual funds.

Recognition

Mr. Davis holds honorary degrees from Williams College (Doctor of Laws) and Bard College (Doctor of Humane Letters). He is a recipient of the Williams College Bicentennial Medal, the Central Park Conservancy Frederick Law Olmsted Medal, and the Medal of the City of New York for Exceptional Service. He has also been honored by the New York 100 Hundred Black Men, the Harlem School of the Arts (Founders Medal), the Dance Theater of Harlem, The Citizens Committee for New York (Chapin Award for the Arts), New Yorkers for Parks, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Prospect Park Alliance.

Family

Davis is married (1968) to Peggy Cooper Davis, a former New York State Family Court judge who is the John S. R. Shad Professor of Lawyering and Ethics at the New York University Law School. Professor Davis has published extensively on a wide interdisciplinary range of subjects, most notably the constitutional status of family rights. She is considered an important leader in innovation and changing law school pedagogy.[35]

A 1968 graduate of Harvard Law School, Professor Davis was an editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review and a founder of the Harvard Law School Black Law Student Association.

The Davises have a daughter, Elizabeth Cooper Davis, a performing artist and educator, NYU (M.A.); Harvard University (Ph.D. expected 2017). Ms. Davis joins the faculty of Emerson College in August 2017 as an Assistant Professor – Applied Theater.

Davis' brother, Allison Stubbs Davis (b. August 31, 1939) lives in Chicago. He is a lawyer, real estate developer, and community planner.[36]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Gordon J. Davis". The HistoryMakers. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  2. ^ a b M. Luo, "Top Black Donors See Obama's Rise as Their Own," New York Times, August 28, 2008.
  3. ^ "Leadership". Jazz at Lincoln Center. Retrieved May 2, 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  4. ^ Aaron Bryant, "Business of Fine Arts," Black Enterprise, November 1, 2014.
  5. ^ a b "Lincoln Center to Create First-Ever Hall of Fame all of the Performing Arts," Lincoln Center Press Release, January 22, 2016
  6. ^ a b "Board of Trustees". New York Public Library. Retrieved March 1, 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  7. ^ a b "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.
  8. ^ A. Davis and J. Dollard, Children of Bondage: The Personality Development of Negro Youth in the Urban South, Washington, DC: American Council on Education, 1940.
  9. ^ A. Davis, B. Gardner, and M. Gardner, Deep South. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1941.
  10. ^ "Allison Davis, Psychologist, Dies; Wrote About Blacks in America," New York Times, November 22, 1983
  11. ^ Varel, David (February 8, 2017). "Allison Davis: Forgotten black scholar studied – and faced – structural racism in 1940s America". The Conversation.com. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  12. ^ "Mission Statement". The Davis Center. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  13. ^ Harvard Law School, September 16, 2016, Dean Martha Minow, Statement of Recognition
  14. ^ G. Davis and M. Schwartz, "Tenant Unions, an Experiment in Private Law Making." Harv. Civ. Lib.-Civ. Rights L. Rev. 2 (2) (1967), p. 237
  15. ^ G. Davis and A. Hawes, "Toward an Understanding of Decision Making in the Office of Economic Opportunity." Harv. Civ. Lib.-Civ. Rights L. Rev. 2 (2) (1967)
  16. ^ G. Davis, Report and Determination in the Matter of Christo: The Gates. New York: NYC Department of Parks, 1981
  17. ^ G. Davis, Introduction. In Ruth Orkin, More Pictures from My Window. New York: Rizzoli, 1983
  18. ^ G. Davis, "The Crisis" Correspondence of W. Allison Davis and W. E. B. DuBois, lecture, New York: Century Association, 2004
  19. ^ Davis, Gordon (November 24, 2015). "What Woodrow Wilson Cost My Grandfather". The New York Times. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  20. ^ a b Elisabeth Bumiller (21 August 1998). "PUBLIC LIVES; Lincoln Center Homecoming for Jazz Lover". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  21. ^ Herman, R. (August 19, 1979). "Parks Boss". The New York Times. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  22. ^ Coombs, O. (November 9, 1981). "The Prince of Central Park". New York Magazine. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  23. ^ Carmody, D. (January 30, 1983). "Grass Grew under Davis; That's Good". The New York Times. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  24. ^ Purdum, T. (November 15, 1989). "Dinkins Transition Team". The New York Times. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  25. ^ Williams, L. (December 11, 1987). "THE LAW; For Black Partners in Top Firms, Lunch Is Special". The New York Times. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  26. ^ Taylor, J. (April 18, 1988). "Blacks – Partners". New York Magazine. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  27. ^ a b Ralph Blumenthal (28 October 2000). "Lincoln Center Chief Dusts Off Welcome Mat". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  28. ^ Pogrebin, R. (March 20, 1995). "Best Lawyers in New York". New York. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  29. ^ "America's Top Black Lawyers". Black Enterprise. November 2003. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  30. ^ New York Bar Association, Statement of Goals For Increasing Minority Retention and Promotion, Committee to Enhance Professional Opportunities for Minorities in the Profession, September 1991
  31. ^ See 10/20/15 Central Park Conservancy Board Resolutions designating as its Founding Trustees Elizabeth Barlow Rodgers, William Sperry Beinecke, Richard Gilder, and Gordon J. Davis
  32. ^ The original members of the committee whose 1989-90 report and recommendation to the board of Lincoln Center led to the establishment of JALC were Gordon J. Davis (chair), Mario Baeza, William Butcher, Mary Schmidt Campbell, Diane Coffey, Ahmet Ertegun, June Larkin, Wynton Marsalis, Tony Marshall, Albert Murray, Jonathan Rose, and Richard Schwartz. Ex officio members were George Weissman, Alina Bloomgarden, Stanley Crouch, and Nat Leventhal
  33. ^ The Editors at Jazz at Lincoln Center (2012). In the Spirit of Swing: The First 25 Years of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Chronicle Books. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  34. ^ Bennetts, L. (February 4, 2002). "The Metropolitan Soap Opera". New York Magazine. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  35. ^ Peggy Cooper Davis:  Most Influential Woman in Legal Education, Ms. JD, January 19, 2009
  36. ^ The Davis Group, "Allison S. Davis"
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