User:Mojo1930/sandbox

Joseph M. Sedacca (July 13, 1930 – September 3, 2022)

Summary
Joseph M. Sedacca, nickname Joe, (July 13, 1930 – September 3, 2022) was an artist, designer, illustrator, actor, and philanthropist.

Early Life and Education
Joe was born in a Sephardic Jewish family. His parents Sarah and Morris Sedacca migrated to New York from Turkey in the early 1920s. When he was 13 years old after a visit to the American Museum of Natural History, he fell off a huge rock in an adjacent area in Central Park West. He broke his right hip, left femur, and right wrist. He was taken to a nearby Knickerbockers Hospital but later transferred to the Hospital for the Ruptured and Crippled (HRC), nowadays known as the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), where he was well-treated by Dr. Philip Wilson Sr. Joe was introduced to art while at HRC as part of his rehabilitation.

Joe went to Seward Park High School, when he discovered he was good at drawing and paintings. After graduation from high school, he won a one-year scholarship at the Art Students League. He also won a scholarship from the Men’s League for Crippled Children. Two years later, he went to Pratt Institute and graduated with a B.A. degree majoring in advertising design.

Career
After he graduated from Pratt, he got his first job as an assistant designer in an advertising agency for three years. Later, he got a new job offer as a designer from the American Museum of Natural History and spent over thirty years first as a designer and later as the Director of the Graphics Department, doing creative designing and installing for the department of Anthropology, Entomology, Herpetology, Manmalogy, and Paleontology. He did numerous exhibitions and the signature ones include, but not limited to, “Ancient Eskimo Ivories of the Bering Strait,” “Feather Arts-Beauty Wealth and Spirit from Five Continents,” “Warhol Animals Species at Risk,” and “Cans from a Pressured City.” He was the illustrator for a few children’s books written by curators in the museum, such as Adventure Book of Insects. Joe also did creative works for pleasure in his spare time, which involved using cans, like tin, wood logs, or feathers. His name frequently appeared in local newspapers because of his outstanding contribution to local events and festivals.

After Joe retired from the American Museum of Natural History, he discovered his passion for acting in his late 80s. He attended acting classes regularly at SAGE. He eventually became a member of SAG-AFTRA. According his profile in IMBD, he is known for his part in Betrayal of a Nation (2021), A Crime to Remember (2013) and Joe Mande's Award-Winning Comedy Special (2017).

Personal and Family Life
Joe Sedacca and Morris Bakst were a same-sex couple. They first registered as domestic partnership in the New York City Hall and then got married in Connecticut when the same-sex marriage was officially recognized there. Their niece Lisa Shwidock witnessed their marriage and held a fabulous wedding party for them. Being 16 years older than Joe, Morris was a dancer for the Humphrey Weidman Dance Company, and also with Martha Graham, an American famous chirographer and performing artist. After Morris left his dancing career, he worked as the vice-president for the department store Martins. After he retired from Martins, he started a new job an investment consultant for Bessemer Trust. After they both fully retired, they traveled around the world together. The places they went to includes the Galapagos, Hawaii, Norway, Egypt, Ireland, New Zealand, Turkey, England, Sicily, Spain, Morocco, Thailand, China, Canada, Wales, and Costa Rica.

Philanthropy
Both Joe Sedacca and Morris Bakst were gentlemen with aristocratic hearts. When Morris was alive, after his work every day, he used to stop by his friend who developed Parkinson’s disease and was living alone, making sure he took his medications and had enough groceries in his fridge. Morris maintained a longtime, active, productive relationship with his coworkers whom no one looked after and made all needed arrangements.

Joe was a lifetime donor to Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS). To recognize the contribution of its donors, HSS established the Wilson Society in 1998 in honor of Philip D. Wilson Jr. (1920-2016) and his late father Philip Wilson Sr. Philip Wilson Sr happened to be the doctor that saved Joe from spending his lifetime in a wheelchair. On his estate plan, Joe left 2.5 million to the hospital. On May 8th, 2019, HSS held a banquet in honor of Joe’s contribution and named the Pediatric and Radiology Suite after “Morris Bakst & Joseph M. Sedacca.”

Sedacca House
While exploring East Hampton, Joe discovered a 16-acred land for sale, which was surrounded by tall white pine trees and dogwoods. He purchased 3 acres at the price of 5,000 dollars. His friend Paul Marvin Rudolph (October 23, 1918 – August 8, 1997), who was an American architect and the chair of Yale University’s Department of Architecture, heard Joe wanted to build a house and recommended his student Charles Gwathmey (June 19, 1938 – August 3, 2009). After interviews and meetings, Joe was excited by the same artistic inspiration they shared and contracted the modern-styled Sedacca House from Charles. After the house was built in 1967, the exterior combination with geometric shapes and blocks, plus its interior abundance use of glasses and steels with a stylish spiral stair case, made it with ease stand out of the neighborhood dominated by shingle style cape cod houses. Sedacca House frequently became the ideal background of wedding photos and featured on the cover pages and articles of both American fashion and architect magazines and abroad. Sedacca House was voted as the best residential design award for 1968 by the American Institute of Architects. As they both grew older and felt difficult to maintain the house, they sold the house to their friend Paul.