JOEL DANSKY

1945 - 2020

Joel Dansky, of Northampton, MA, died on May 7 after a long, determined and courageous struggle with Parkinson's Disease. Joel was born on June 17, 1945 in Newark, New Jersey, to Edith Sirken Dansky and Irving Dansky, both Russian Jewish immigrants who met in Montreal. Joel grew up in Newark and Maplewood, New Jersey and graduated from Columbia High School in 1963. Joel attended Brandeis University, where he was known among his Humanities I classmates as one of the "geniuses in the back of the class," and graduated in 1967 with a degree in Comparative Literature. While working at the Brandeis snack bar, he met his future wife and life companion, Nancy Felton. In 1969 they travelled to Berkeley, CA to join a commune-but only arrived in time for the farewell dinner, the commune's founders having become disillusioned along the way. They spent ten months in Berkeley, where Joel worked as a postal carrier, participating in the great post office strike of 1970. This experience informed his lifelong commitment to organized labor and collective action. Nancy and Joel returned east in 1970 to get married, and moved to Leverett, MA so that Joel could attend UMass as a graduate student in English. Though his deep intellect and prolific literary knowledge shaped all that he did in life, Joel ultimately left academia to serve others more directly in the fields of human services. He worked for the Neighborhood Youth Corps, Head Start, and Children's Emergency Services before attending the Smith College School for Social Work to receive a MSW in 1985. His Master's Thesis investigated social workers' unionization efforts. Joel worked with children, families and young adults for decades. As a counselor for River Valley Counseling Service, the Holyoke Teen Clinics, and in the Holyoke and Northampton schools, he supported the needs of underserved teenagers, using Spanish language skills he had developed during a 1973 homestay in Guatemala. (During this trip he also looked hard for the elusive Guatemalan national bird, the quetzal; Joel was a longtime dedicated birdwatcher.) From the early 2000s until his retirement in 2015, he was the Disabilities Services Coordinator at Hampshire College, ensuring that the college was a welcoming environment for all students regardless of ability. Joel shaped all of these professional roles and environments with his kind, caring personality and broad vision of social justice. Joel was known for his thoughtfulness, intelligence, wit, and unfailingly idealistic commitment to changing society and helping others both in his professional work and in his political activism. He was a member of the Northampton Committee to Stop Wars and, for decades, could be found most Saturdays between 11am and noon in front of the Courthouse on Main Street with the anti-war vigil. Joel brought his irreverent sense of humor to every occasion and was often observed composing limericks on the fly during rallies or protest marches. Growing out of the Labor Zionist movement and observing the disastrous effects of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, Joel spent decades working for peace and justice in Israel/Palestine. He was an active member of the Middle East Peace and Justice Coalition, Brit Tzedek v'Shalom and J Street. His understanding of Palestinian politics and culture was strengthened when he and Nancy hosted a Palestinian student, Anas Maloul, for a six-month homestay, after which Anas (who graduated from Hampshire in 2009) became an honorary family member, often holding court at Friday night dinners with passionate and prolific discussions of politics and philosophy. More recently, Joel turned his efforts to fighting climate change, which he understood as perhaps the most existential threat facing humans today. Even when his illness made daily life difficult, he sought opportunities to volunteer his time and labor for the greater good. Joel was an avid bicyclist, serving on the Norwottuck Rail Trail Advisory Committee and commuting by bike to Hampshire, weather permitting, for many years. He loved hiking and especially the White Mountains and its AMC hut system, where he returned time and again. Often, he brought his sketchbook along; Joel drew and painted many scenes directly from nature, or from photographs he took on his travels. He was an accomplished gardener and his family and neighbors enjoyed the benefits of his labor. As a carpenter, he built numerous simple and beautiful pieces of furniture in the Northern Avenue home where he lived from 1979-2019. He played multiple positions for the Good Wood coed softball team, which was active from 1978 until the team got too old to field the ball. He was a longtime Red Sox fan and taught his daughter to fill in a baseball scorecard.

Joel was a complex and sophisticated thinker, but in daily life he valued simplicity and maintained a profound anti-elitism. He loved public transportation, and preferred learning to recycle and repair old things to buying new things. His favorite meals were shared on park benches or mountain summits. Joel was a devoted husband and father. He treasured and delighted in his daughter Miriam and loved sharing his interests with her and learning about her interests. The arrival of his grandson Pete brought great joy to the last three years of his life. In addition to Nancy, Miriam and Pete, Joel is survived by his sister, Nina Ziv, his niece Avigail Ziv and his nephew Assaf Ziv, and many cousins and friends. Donations in Joel's memory would be welcome to Healing Across the Divides, Movement Voter Project, Climate Action Now, or the social justice organization of your choice. A memorial service will be held at a later date.