A Remembrance of Joel Fleishman

On September 30, Duke University lost a leader and scholar who made an outsized impact on the lives of so many members of our community. 

Joel L. Fleishman, professor of law and public policy, was a faculty member at Duke for more than half a century. The founding director of the Sanford School of Public Policy received the University Medal for Meritorious Service, one of Duke’s highest honors, in 2009.

Among an extensive list of contributions Fleishman made to Duke, he served as the first chair of the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) board of directors.

In the late 1980s, Joel Fleishman opened the doors at Duke for the first documentary studies center at an American university. In 1989, he became the first chair of the board of CDS, a visionary board that included John Hope Franklin, Reynolds Price, Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, Theodore Rosengarten, Robert Coles and William Chafe. 

Under his leadership, CDS began supporting the work of independent documentary artists and for the first time brought under one roof photographers, filmmakers, fiction and nonfiction writers, oral historians, radio producers and poets to teach undergraduates at Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill.

Joel Fleishman was my friend of fifty years. Before I even had confidence in my own abilities, Joel recognized my eye and encouraged me to photograph. When he founded the public policy program at Duke in 1971, he hired me — just out of college — to work on a photographic series about the difficult living conditions of so many North Carolina citizens. Out of that year grew a life in photography, the privilege of teaching at Duke, and ultimately of cofounding CDS. I was one of so many Joel helped in this way. He had such a talent and inclination for recognizing and encouraging the gifts of others. I’m confident that at CDS we will carry on Joel’s legacy.

—Alex Harris, Professor of the Practice Emeritus of Public Policy, CDS Cofounder

Joel Fleishman was a superb leader, a wonderful friend, the embodiment of all that makes Duke such an exemplary community. As dean of Art & Sciences and a secondary faculty member at Sanford, I had the joy of working with Joel for more than half a century. If anyone represented the qualities and values that make Duke great, it was Joel Fleishman.

—William Chafe, Alice Mary Baldwin Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History, CDS Cofounder

I am deeply saddened by Joel Fleishman’s death. It was January 1989 when I first met Joel. I’d come to Duke to help create what became the Center for Documentary Studies. From the beginning Joel supported this venture; he saw documentary work almost as a visceral way to enhance policy studies. Documentary work could lead to a better understanding of peoples, their cultures and their day-to-day lives and of how policy, at different levels, affected these lives. He also appreciated the art itself and what our yet-to-be born center could offer students of varying talents and interests. He went on an adventure with us to create the Center for Documentary Studies by enthusiastically chairing our board of directors and taking me under his wing so that I could learn the ropes of what it meant to be the first executive director of a unique support organization of Duke.

We experienced a year-long planning process before we officially opened our doors to the public and to students ranging in age from elementary to graduate school and beyond. All life-long learners from the community would eventually benefit from our multidisciplinary and multimedia collaborative work. Joel cheered me on, never failing to express belief in our enterprise, always there to tell me what better path I should follow to get where we needed to be.

He had an unfailing charm and cheerfulness that said ‘you can do it’ and that he would always help. It’s hard to believe that he’s still not out there in the world leading others to see ways to improve their lives and those of others. For me, he was a blessing.

—Iris Tillman Hill, CDS Founding Director

The Center for Documentary Studies would not exist without Joel Fleishman. We are grateful for his vision and skill in helping to guide our institution during its formative early years, and for the graciousness and warmth he continued to extend to our faculty, staff and students in the decades since. Joel was a tireless champion of CDS and the power of documentary work to have an impact our university and our society more broadly.”

—Chris Sims, CDS Director