Service to ACOR: President of the Board (1992–2011)
Artemis Joukowsky (1930–2020) served as president of the board of trustees from 1992 to 2011. He was chancellor at Brown University and founder of the Artemis A.W. and Martha Sharp Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, which promotes the investigation, understanding, and enjoyment of the archaeology and art of the ancient Mediterranean, Egypt, and western Asia. Born in Shanghai to Russian parents, Mr. Joukowsky graduated from Brown University in 1955 and thereafter led a career in international business, devoting most of his professional life to American International Group, Inc. He served the firm worldwide, in countries such as Thailand, Turkey, Hong Kong, and Lebanon. He spent ten years in New York in AIG’s Special World Markets Division and the Socialist Countries Division before returning to Providence and serving the Brown community, including as chancellor and then chancellor emeritus. Mr. Joukowsky served as co-founder of the Brown Sports Foundation, chaired the Public Arts Committee, and was a significant proponent of improved public and green spaces on campus. He and his wife Martha Sharp Joukowsky (Professor and Director, Center for Old World Art and Archaeology) endowed a professorship in gastroenterology, and, as a tireless fundraiser, he led Brown’s most successful capital campaign.
Mr. Joukowsky was introduced to ACOR by Pierre and Patricia Bikai, friends from Lebanon, when Pierre assumed the directorship in the early 1990s. Arte became board president in 1992 and served in this capacity until 2011, at which time he was elected to emeritus status. Throughout his tenure as president, he determinedly pursued a comprehensive vision for ACOR’s structure and financial future. He collaborated closely with fellow trustees and the ACOR director to set goals, in addition to offering several successful challenge grants. He hosted board meetings in Providence, Rhode Island, and spent his summers in Jordan as photographer for the Brown University Petra Great Temple Project. At the 1997 ASOR Annual Meeting, he was presented the W. F. Albright Award for his distinguished service.
