Jack Josephson--a Man for All Seasons, from Ann Arbor to Egypt

By Conny Coon

Josephson stands at the base of the Pyramid of Sneferu, also know as the "bent pyramid" due to the fact that its upper half was built with a smaller angle than the lower part - a characteristic of great interest to engineers.

During his days as a self-proclaimed "lousy student" who preferred playing pool to studying, the Atlantic City, NJ, native never imagined his career path would lead him to Egypt. But the strategic thinking he learned at the College of Engineering took him to the land of the pharaohs and the stratosphere of engineering success. "If nothing else," he said, "engineers learn problem-solving and how to approach a problem from a particular point of view. I think I've used that form of problem-solving all of my life, whether it was engineering, business or Egyptology."

Immediately after graduation, Josephson had one clearly defined goal in mind: finding a job. Fortunately, a construction company recruited him to build tactical bases for the U.S. Air Force overseas. He took the job immediately. "My option was to go into the armed services at the height of the Korean War," he said. "And I wasn't exactly crazy about being in Korea, living in subzero temperatures and being shot at."

While working in what was then French Morocco, he traveled to Egypt, where the pyramids, sphinxes and art transfixed him and piqued his interest in the engineering and architecture of the land. He never dreamed his budding interest would become a profession.

After only one year on the job, Josephson hit a roadblock on his career path: A severe case of amoebic dysentery (untreatable at the time) forced him to return to New York, where he spent two years recovering. "It was a painful and difficult time of my life," he recalled. Yet he somehow struggled through his pain, working as a civil engineer in heavy construction even while ill.

That engineering work in New York continued on and off for four years, but with a baby on the way, he had to find something he could depend on. That "something" turned out to be himself. He became an entrepreneur, creating J. Josephson Incorporated with just $5,000 and one Volkswagen Beetle as initial capital.

In his previous positions, Josephson learned that a major problem in the construction of high rises was the interior finish. He solved the problem by creating a polyvinyl chloride interior finish, an inexpensive, durable and good-looking material that attracted a broad spectrum of customers, including large hotel chains. In just a short time, the business took off.

By late 1969, when his company's sales were nearly $25 million per year, Josephson decided to sell the business. It went through a number of hands and wound up as a possession of RCA, for which he continued to work for five years in exchange for "quite a bit of RCA stock."

Josephson and Swiss Egyptologists Dr. and Mrs. Walter Haeny survey the remains of Tell el Rub'a, the capitol of the sixteenth nome (province) of ancient Egypt. Josephson said this survey work was "remindful of my years in engineering."

Josephson, in his early forties, became a student once again soaking up all the knowledge he could of Egyptian history, art and architecture in classes at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University (NYU). NYU's resident Egyptologist encouraged him to write an article for a local publication. Eventually, he began to publish frequently in journals throughout the world.

Josephson specialized in Egyptian art history. Specifically, he became an authority on the Late Period of ancient Egypt, an expertise that brought an invitation from the Egyptian government, which asked him to write a catalogue documenting statues within The Cairo Museum. Catalogue General of Egyptian Antiquities in the Cairo Museum (Statues of the XXVth and XXVIth Dynasties) took Josephson and a collaborator several years to write. Josephson treasures his invitation to write it as "a great compliment."

The compliments didn't stop there. Colleagues revered Josephson and honored his work. When an earthquake devastated Cairo in 1992, the Egyptian government called on him to address the damage. As chairman of the Cultural Property Advisory Committee of the United States, Josephson requested participation from the College's Civil Engineering department, which dispatched a team to Egypt to evaluate Islamic monuments, mosques and museums for structural damage. Currently, he is chairman of the International Foundation for Art Research, works closely with the American Research Center in Egypt, lectures at various symposia and universities and continues to enact important conservation work in Egypt. Josephson is also still active at the Institute of Fine Arts of NYU as a research associate and assists with the Institute's various fundraising efforts.

Throughout the years, Josephson has received tremendous support - from Elizabeth, his wife of 34 years, who passed away in 1987; from two sons and one daughter, and from Magda Saleh, a former Egyptian ballerina whom he married in 1993. He carves out time for classical music, the ballet, watching sports - particularly tennis - on television, and eclectic reading that ranges from stories of adventure to his current selection, Paris 1919, about the shaping of peace after World War I.

Now, in a time that breeds so many specialists, Jack Josephson stands a world apart - he's as comfortable with 3000-year-old engineering as he is with a tennis racket. If he does have a specialty, it's a distinctive way of thinking that allows him to be a husband, a father, an engineer, an Egyptologist, an athlete, an art aficionado and an entrepreneur. And what is truly exceptional is that he's so successful at each.-E

Conny Coon is the editor of a communication arts trade magazine, The Big Idea, and a freelance writer.