Joan K Davidson

Joan Kaplan Davidson, a preservationist and philanthropist who set projects in motion that upgraded the quality of life in New York City, died on Friday August 9 2023 in Hudson, N.Y. She was 96. Her son John Matthew Davidson confirmed the death. Davidson served as chairwoman of the New York State Council on the Arts in the 1970s and as New York State parks commissioner in the 1990s. But she made her most lasting mark from 1977 to 1993 as president of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, a foundation established by her father, Jacob M. Kaplan, in 1945. Her father made a fortune in South America in the molasses business and later bought out the owners of Welch’s Grape Juice. An iconoclastic businessman, he sold Welch’s to a cooperative of his employees in 1956 and focused his attention on his foundation. When Mr. Kaplan retired in 1977, he turned the management of the foundation over to his daughter. He died in 1987. Joan was raised in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1948 and, a year later, a postgraduate degree in education from Bank Street College of Education in Manhattan. After teaching school and writing advertising copy for Macy’s, she moved to Washington, where in 1953 she married C. Girard Davidson, who had been an assistant secretary of the interior in the Truman administration. They had four children and divorced in 1967. In addition to her son John, Ms. Davidson is survived by three other children, G. Bradford Davidson, Betsy Davidson and Peter W. Davidson; 12 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. She lived in Germantown, N.Y.