Joel Davidow

Joel Davidow of Washington, DC passed away on October 16, 2025 at Sibley Memorial Hospital at age 87. He was born on July 24, 1938 in Trenton, New Jersey to Isadore Davidow, a wallpaper hanger, and Gertrude (nee' Rubenstein) Davidow, an interior designer and homemaker.
He went to Princeton University and graduated summa cum laude in 1960 from the Woodrow Wilson School and then to Columbia Law School where he was Notes Editor of the Columbia Law Review. He was a member of the class of 1963.
Joel enjoyed a full and extensive career in international law. After a year teaching legal writing at Stanford University, Joel joined the Federal Trade Commission in 1964 as Special Assistant to Commissioner Philip Elman and then the U.S. Department of Justice in 1966 first as a trial attorney and ultimately as the Chief of the Foreign Commerce Section of the Antitrust Division and Director of Policy and Planning for the division. While at the Department of Justice, in addition to supervising the work of the foreign commerce division, he represented the United States in Paris, France at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ("OECD") and in Geneva, Switzerland at United Nations negotiations on antitrust and intellectual property rights. Joel was the chief architect of the United Nations Code of Conduct on Restrictive Business Practices which was adopted unanimously by the UN General Assembly. Later he advised more than twenty countries, including Russia and Switzerland. In 1993 Joel served as the UN special representative to help draft competition laws for Nelson Mandella and the African National Congress.
Joel was a partner in private practice specializing in major antitrust, patent and international commercial litigation commencing in 1981 with Mudge Rose, New York. He returned to Washington in 1986 to become a partner in Dickstein Shapiro, P.C., and in subsequent years Ablondi Foster Sobin & Davidow, P.C., Miller & Chevalier, Kile Goekjian Reed & McManus and of counsel at Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca where he happily continued to practice.
In between teaching and lecturing in America and abroad, Joel was the foreign antitrust editor of the Antitrust Bulletin for 25 years.
Due to having 40 published articles, Joel was a member of the prestigious Cosmos Club, a noble institution full of Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners. He was also a member of the Foreign Policy Discussion Group.
Joel, a voracious reader, frequented his local public library. He also loved playing bridge and was tough at playing Scrabble. He delighted in the successes of his children and grandchildren.
Joel's intellectual curiosity extended beyond his professional work. Over the course of nearly 24 years together Joel and his wife, Gwenn, traveled the world, sharing a deep love of discovery and the joy of seeing life through each other's eyes.
Joel is survived by his beloved wife, Gwenn E. Rosenthal of Washington, DC. Aside from being a devoted husband, father, grandfather and friend to many around the world, Joel is survived by his four daughters, Beth Davidow of Seattle, Washington, Judy Rogers of Redmond, Washington, Abigail Davidow of Bethesda, Maryland and Molly Davidow of Oakland, California, his five grandchildren and his brother, Harry Davidow of New York City.
Joel was laid to rest in graveside services held in Beth Yeshuran Post Oak Cemetery in Houston, Texas on Friday, October 24, 2025.
Memorial contributions may be made to Princeton University or Columbia Law School. Services entrusted to Sagel Bloomfield Danzansky Goldberg Funeral Care.