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Joy Ungerleider-Mayerson (1920–1994)

Joy Ungerleider-Mayerson, an acknowledged leader in archaeological philanthropy and a scholar in her own right, died of pancreatic cancer on September 7, 1994, at age 74.

In good health until only a few months before her death, she was felled by this particularly ravaging form of the disease. Her spirit remained unquelled to the very end, however. Hundreds of people from all walks of life gathered for her funeral in New York—a rabbi from Israel, a Catholic priest from Boston and archaeologists and scholars from all over. She was more than their benefactor. She was their colleague and friend.

Memorial services were later held at New York’s Jewish Museum, where she served as a particularly creative director for eight years, and at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, where she was an active member of the board of trustees.

Joy’s philanthropy was coupled with an intense personal involvement and interest. She was not simply dispensing good. She was determined to make a difference. And she did.

For many difficult years, she provided crucial support for the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) and served on its board of trustees. At her death, she was chairman of the board of directors of the W. F. Albright School of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem. She also provided support for numerous archaeological excavations in Israel.