The International Center for Medieval Art mourns the death of David S. Raizman, who served as the Treasurer of the ICMA from 2015-2018.
David Raizman (1951-2021)
David Seth Raizman died on February 22, 2021 in Abingdon, PA at the age of 69. A scholar of medieval Spain who, perhaps improbably, became an international authority on modern design, he is survived by Lucy, his wife of 46 years, daughter Rebecca Newman, son-in-law David Newman, and grandson Jacob Orion Newman of Los Angeles; and son Joshua Raizman and daughter-in-law Sommer Mateer, of Havertown, PA.
Raizman earned all three of his degrees in Art History at the University of Pittsburgh. His 1980 dissertation “The Later Morgan Beatus (M. 429) and Late Romanesque illumination in Spain,” was written under the direction of John Williams. His training with Williams prepared him for work in a field that was, especially then, marginalized and difficult of access. Raizman went on to publish several works in the area of manuscript illumination as well as an oft-cited article on Mudejar architecture, “The Church of Santa Cruz and the Beginnings of Mudejar Architecture in Toledo,” Gesta 38, no. 2 (1999): 128-141, which was sitting on my computer desktop awaiting a re-read when I received notification of his death. David maintained a deep friendship with Williams as well as a lifelong interest in medieval Iberia, contributing a groundbreaking article to the 2005 Festschrift Therese Martin and I edited, as well as helping to organize and secure ICMA sponsorship for sessions held in Williams’s memory at the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo in 2016.
David’s first appointment after completing his dissertation was at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois in 1980. Nine years later, he and his young family moved to Philadelphia where he accepted a position at Drexel University. Raizman would remain there teaching, eventually at the rank of Distinguished University Professor, and serving in various administrative capacities including Department Chair and Dean until his retirement in 2017. His scholarly shift in focus grew directly out of the unmet needs of students studying design. The lack of appropriate course materials prompted David to write a comprehensive history (History of Modern Design, London, Laurence King and New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 2004, 2nd edition, 2010). This was followed by additional publications, conference work, and a fruitful collaboration with Carma Gorman, (Objects, Audiences, and Literature: Alternative Narratives in the History of Design, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2007), whose impact is detailed by Professor Gorman in the obituary she authored for the College Art Association. David had found a second, appreciative home in the History of Design.
Beyond teaching, mentoring, and producing exemplary scholarship in two fields, David served as Treasurer both for ICMA (2015-18) and for CAA (2018-2021). For nine months (2019-20), he agreed to serve as interim executive director of CAA, commuting from Philadelphia to New York every other week on the condition that this be a strictly unpaid position. In these administrative duties, he applied financial management skills bequeathed to him by his accountant father—who, as David told me, was concerned that he might one day need a “real job.”
As a friend, I found David to be unfailingly optimistic and caring. Passionate about music both as a listener and maker (he was an accomplished guitarist), he also enjoyed tennis, conversation with friends, and simply adored his family. He was probably the kindest person I knew in the academic world. This affability could be misleading: on numerous occasions, I witnessed him parse an utterly incomprehensible conference paper in a few choice words—completely on point and completely without animus. That he was a Squirrel Hill mensch who never lost his “Pittsburghese” or the values of our community as well as the product of a beloved shared mentor made our bond even tighter.
Even those of us who write professionally soon learn how inadequate words are when it comes to expressing devastating loss. I will miss him forever. May his memory be a blessing.
-Julie Harris, with the kind assistance of Carma Gorman.
We share the obituary released by his family.