Nationality American Organization founded Central Park Conservancy | Occupation Lawyer, Civic Leader | |
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Born August 7, 1941 (age 75) ( 1941-08-07 ) Chicago, Illinois Alma mater Williams College (B.A.)
Harvard Law School (J.D.) | ||
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Gordon J. Davis, an active 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. Mr. Davis has been a prominent leader in New York City's public, civic, and legal affairs for four decades. He served under Mayor Ed Koch as the city's commissioner of parks and recreation and is considered one of the most successful parks commissioners of the post–Robert Moses era. He was one of the first African Americans to become a partner in a major New York corporate law firm (Lord Day & Lord, 1983). He is the founding chairman of Jazz at Lincoln Center, one of the four founders of the Central Park Conservancy, a member of the first class inducted into the Lincoln Center Hall of Fame, a life trustee of the New York Public Library, a President Obama appointee to the board of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and an alumnus of Williams College, from which he also received an honorary degree.
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Early life
Davis was born August 7, 1941 in Chicago, Illinois to parents William Allison Davis and Elizabeth Stubbs Davis. His father was the John Dewey Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Chicago and was the university’s first black tenured professor. The predominantly black neighborhood he grew up in fostered his interest in music, theater and poetry.
Davis attended Hyde Park High School in Chicago. He received his Bachelor of Arts in 1963 from Williams College, where he spearheaded Ivy League involvement in the Civil Rights movement. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1967. At Harvard he authored two articles in the earliest issues of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. 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.(nytlincoln) Their daughter Elizabeth Cooper Davis (1975) is an actor, scholar and social activist.
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.
From 1973 until 1978 he was a member of the New York City Planning Commission. 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. 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. 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.
Private practice
In 1983 he joined the law firm Lord, Day & Lord and later became a senior partner. He remained at the firm until it closed in 1994.
In 1994 Davis joined the law firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae (subsequently Dewey & LeBoeuf) as a partner. He left Dewey & LeBoeuf in 2012 to become a partner in the law firm of Venable LLP.
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. He was involved in the rebuilding of Ground Zero and the development of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. He currently represents the United States Tennis Association in the expansion of its stadium facilities.
Other positions
Davis served as president of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts from 2000 until 2011. 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.
He is a trustee or director of: the New York Public Library, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Central Park Conservancy, and New York Shakespeare Theater.
Davis currently serves as a director of two groups of mutual funds managed by the Dreyfus Corporation. 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.
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.
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. He is a benefactor of The Davis Center at Williams College. In 2001, he was honored by 100 Black Men of America for his work in public service. In 2002 he was named one of “America’s Top Black Lawyers” by Black Enterprise magazine.
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.