Feldman, Marvin (1993 November 26 (date of death))
Person
Dates
- Existence: 1993 November 26 (date of death)
Biography
Marvin Feldman was the President of the Fashion Institute of Technology from 1971 until his retirement in 1992. During his tenure, the College's enrollment rose to 12,000 from 5,000, the selection of courses increased greatly, and the number of buildings went from two to eight. Under his direction, FIT began awarding bachelor's and master's degrees, in addition to its associate's degree. FIT also set up the Advanced Apparel Manufacturing Technology Demonstration Facility, which includes a large collection of computer-driven equipment. A small business center that provides services and support for entrepreneurs was opened in 1983. Early in his career, Mr. Feldman was a secondary school educator and administrator in California, and from 1964 to 1969 he was an officer of the Ford Foundation's Division of International Education and Research. He also served in a variety of capacities in Washington DC in the Office of Education and the Office of Economic Opportunity.
Found in 14 Collections and/or Records:
Alan Fishman interview about his mother, Shirley Goodman, 1996 May 21, 1996 May 21
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.4.3
Scope and Contents
Alan Fishman, the son of Shirley Goodman, discusses Goodman’s role in the early days of FIT. Goodman had worked on the World’s Fair with Grover Whalen, and was eventually introduced to the group of successful businessmen who were founding the institute out of the High School of the Needle Trades. Fishman describes his mother’s intense and lasting advocacy for the institute, though she came in without fashion industry experience. Fishman began working in the FIT mail room during his high...
Dates:
1996 May 21
Annette Piecora interview, 1994 December 1, 1994 December 1
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.4.12
Scope and Contents
Annette Piecora joined FIT in 1977 as a clerical assistant under Gladys Marcus and Jean-Ellen Gibson, the chair of the social science department. Piecora would work in both the personnel department and faculty services department before finding a long-term position in the president’s office. Piecora mentions meeting her husband, Professor Steve Harrington of the social services department, through FIT. Piecora worked with Marvin Feldman and Allan Herschfield, and discusses how she began...
Dates:
1994 December 1
David Zeigler interview, 1994 November 11, 1994 November 11
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.4.13
Scope and Contents
This is an interview with David Zeigler who began at FIT’s continuing education division in 1956 following a transfer from the Board of Education. At the time, the school was still based in the Central Needle Trades High School. Zeigler discusses contentions within the English department, the formation of a union in response, and how he came to be elected as the first faculty president of FIT. Zeigler mentions various faculty in his department and emphasizes how deeply he became entrenched...
Dates:
1994 November 11
Edith Sancroft interview, 1994 November 22, 1994 November 22
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.4.25
Scope and Contents
Edith Sancroft, professor of health and physical education at the time of this interview, and former Dean of Liberal Arts, joined FIT in 1964. She immediately began a large expansion of the school's dance program and talks about the introduction of an intermediate level of dance for her more advanced students. Sancroft sees choreography and dance as a natural partner to fashion design; her students benefit from the knowledge that body movement has to offer. She pays homage to the 1960s as a...
Dates:
1994 November 22
Eve Pollack interview, 1995 March 6, 1995 March 6
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.4.21
Scope and Contents
Chair of the Marketing Department at the time of this interview, Eve Pollack explains the educational and professional trajectories that led her to a position at FIT in 1978. As her father was a textile converter, Eve found a career in buying haute couture to be a natural fit. She worked in the financial sector as well before being offered an adjunct position teaching a class called “Introduction to the Fashion Business,” at FIT. Pollack discusses the changes she has witnessed in both the...
Dates:
1995 March 6
Gibbs Murray interview, 1994 December 6, 1994 December 6
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.4.18
Scope and Contents
Gibbs Murray, Chair of the Display and Exhibit Department at the time of this interview, talks about the origins of the program as a double degree in fashion display and photography in the 1960s. He discusses how the Display and Exhibit Department’s singular, comprehensive nature has led to exponential levels of enrollment in recent years, and mentions student exhibitions in conjunction with companies such as Chanel, Patrick Kelly, and Romeo Gigli. Murray details a close relationship with...
Dates:
1994 December 6
Interview of Christine Pupillo, Leonard Trattner, and Harry Greenberg of the Patternmaking Department, 1995 February 27, 1995 February 27
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.4.22
Scope and Contents
This is an interview with three professors of the patternmaking department at FIT: Christine Pupillo, Leonard Trattner, and Harry Greenberg. At the time of the interview, Trattner was chair of the department. Greenberg started at FIT in 1947 and describes an incident that occurred during the Board of Education’s two-day exam, which was a prerequisite to patternmaking instruction. The three delve into FIT’s uniquely specialized program wherein students learn to make slopers. Trattner, a 9th...
Dates:
1995 February 27
Interview with executive members of the Union of United College Employees (UCE) of FIT: Joe Garofalo, Judy Wood, Arthur Levinson, & Juliette Romano, 1994 November 14, 1994 November 14
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.4.4
Scope and Contents
This is an interview with four executive members of the Union of United College Employees (UCE) at FIT: Joseph Garofalo, Judy Wood, Juliette Romano, and Arthur Levinson. The four begin by explaining their backgrounds and initial involvement with FIT in the 1960s and 1970s. They discuss how difficult it was to get promotions under the administration of Lawrence Bethel, and how the union had to fight for many rights such as faculty status for “non-classroom faculty.” They also discuss the...
Dates:
1994 November 14
Jack Rittenberg interview, circa 1994-1995, circa 1994-1995
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.4.24
Scope and Contents
Dean Emeritus at the Department of Business and Technology at the time of this interview, Jack Rittenberg discusses his many roles while at FIT between the years of 1963 and 1992. He talks of the development of degrees within the baccalaureate program such as those in advertising and menswear, the latter being a degree that Rittenberg co-developed with Ted Roberts. He talks extensively about the school’s early existence in the C Building and the growth of the physical campus as FIT became...
Dates:
circa 1994-1995
Jean Ellen Giblin interview, 1994 November 21, 1994 November 21
Item
Identifier: SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.4.17
Scope and Contents
Jean Ellen Giblin, the Vice President of Academic Affairs at the time of this interview, explains how she came to FIT as an economics professor in 1970. She was later Chair of the Social Science Department as well as the curriculum committee. After a time, she was asked to work on the development of the new upper division program which had a marketing option in international trade. She talks fondly of that creative work and how it led her to become the acting Dean of the Business and...
Dates:
1994 November 21
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