By: Jaida Dent
Brooklyn College alumnus Joel Isaacson passed away on Jan. 26 in Berkeley, California. He is survived by his wife, Helen, his children David and Elisa, and his grandchildren Chaityn, Jack, and Jacob.
Born to Romanian and Ukrainian parents in Brooklyn, New York, Isaacson would pursue a fruitful academic career, made possible by the free college education available at the time.
“Joel always considered his free college education—first in the free New York City college system, then with the GI Bill that funded his years at Oberlin, and finally in the (then) free University of California system—as a magnificent ideal that has since been lost in this country,” according to his private obituary written by Isaacson and his family.
His time at Brooklyn College was impactful, as he met his wife, Helen, on campus at a Vanguard meeting and was introduced to the world of art and art history.
“When Joel learned that The Brooklyn College Vanguard was picking up the spirit of the college newspaper and carrying it forward, he was overjoyed, as was I,” said Helen Isaacson.
The two would get married as Isaacson served in the Army’s Exhibit Unit at Fort Myer in Virginia for two years, then moved to London, where Isaacson studied at the Slade School of Fine Art from 1954 to 1955. Once the couple returned to the U.S., Isaacson would obtain his master’s in painting from Oberlin College. Afterwards, the Isaacsons would head to San Francisco after friends and BC alumnae Marvin Friedman, Philip, and Gladys Leider had “discovered the Garden of Eden” there. Isaacson would continue his education and earn his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley’s Art History department.
After raising their children in California, the family moved to Ann Arbor, where Isaacson would begin teaching at the Department of the History of Art at the University of Michigan. During his tenure, Isaacson organized a teach-in to protest against the U.S. involvement in Vietnam in March of 1965. The event would encourage others to do them around the country.
“[…] It was soon followed by teach-ins at Columbia, Wisconsin, Penn, and more, spurring a wave of campus activism and creating awareness of the situation in Vietnam, the Tonkin Bay Resolution, and bombings, all of which were not well understood at that time by the public,” according to his obituary.
The couple retired in California in 1996, where Isaacson would paint full-time. He would have solo exhibitions, including “Walls,” which explores the concept of borders between the U.S. and Mexico, and Israel and Palestine.
In his free time, Isaacson enjoyed reading periodicals, watching the Warriors and 49ers, spending time with friends, family, and former students, and “reflecting his lifelong sense of justice and determination not to look away.”