Rosalee Cohen Davison, designer who was a founding member of Walters Art Museum’s Women’s Committee, dies

Rosalee Cohen Davison, a designer and philanthropist who was a founding member of the Walters Art Museum’s Women’s Committee, died of congestive heart failure June 30 at Sinai Hospital. The Pikesville resident was 92.

“She lived her life with a heart for philanthropy,” said Gary Vikan, a former Walters director. “She personally took joy in giving and she was gifted in asking others to give. It’s a talent she had and a talent born of value.”

Born in Baltimore, she was the daughter of Zelda Greenberg and Ben Cohen, who co-owned the Pimlico and Bowie race courses with his brother, Herman.

The Cohen brothers also owned television station, WAAM, an affiliate of the old Dumont network, now WJZ-TV. As an 18 year old, she occasionally gave on-air weather reports during the summer months.

She was a Forest Park High School graduate and earned an art history degree from Syracuse University where she met her future husband, Richard Davison.

They married in 1952 at the Charles Room in the Belvedere Hotel.

She later earned a design degree at Maryland Institute College of Art and decorated model homes for her family’s building and development business in Norfolk, Richmond and Baltimore. She received a master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins University.

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Mrs. Davison was a lifelong learner who studied the Torah, religious literature and art. She had a jewelry making studio in her home and would make necklaces of beads she collected during her travels.

At the Walters, she served as a docent for over 26 years, was a founder and later the vice-chair of the Women’s Committee and served on the board of trustees for 19 years.

“Rosalee Davison was a beloved and dedicated longtime supporter of the Walters as well as generous donor. Her life was one of service, guided by a strong belief in giving back to her community,” said Julia Marciari-Alexander, Walters Art Museum director, who also recalled “the joy she took in all she did for the museum, her warm and generous spirit, and her passionate dedication to the arts and to our great city.”

Ms. Marciari-Alexander also said, “Her presence and impact will continue to be felt in all corners of the museum for years to come.”

Stiles T. Cowill, a lifelong friend, said, “Rosalee was quiet in the good deeds she did. She was one of the kindest and sweetest human beings I’ve ever known. She could be firm and was a lady in the old-fashioned way, but also in a liberated way.”

Mrs. Davison was also active in Jewish philanthropies. She was a board member and chair of the women’s department of The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore. Over the years she ran charitable fundraising campaigns for the organization and was a past chair of the Jewish Women’s Giving Foundation of Baltimore.

She was a member of Har Sinai-Oheb Shalom Congregation.

Fred Lazarus, former MICA president, said, “Rosalee was elegant and smart. She loved Baltimore and she loved being generous. She was a great friend of MICA and even though she was a Syracuse graduate, we could not have had a more loyal alumna.

“She worked effectively to build MICA’s reputation and its impact on Baltimore. She made sure that talented students had the resources to come to our school.”

Mrs. Davison followed in her father’s thoroughbred racing interests and track management. She owned numerous winning horses, including Hail to All, which won the Belmont Stakes in 1965. In 1983, after her father and his brother bought Bowie Race Course in Prince George’s County, she managed the track’s refurbishment.

“”I guess if you were to describe the plant [the barns and grandstand] in physical terms, you would say it was a kid with a fresh-scrubbed face,” she said in a 1983 Baltimore Sun article. “If it moved it got painted.”

She bred and owned thoroughbreds that carried her pink and red racing silks. She also delighted in naming her horses. Among her winners were Upbeat and Guilty Conscience. She was a regular at the Pimlico, Saratoga and Gulfstream Park race courses.

“In the good old days, when Maryland families owned our race tracks, she was a great presence. She was beautifully coifed and elegantly dressed. She was a charming, lovely lady. Her philanthropic nature spread out throughout the state,” said Ross Peddicord, the executive director of the Maryland Horse Industry Board.

Mr. Lazarus, the former MICA president, said, “Rosalee loved racing and had Raoul Middleman [an artist and MICA instructor] paint a mural at Pimlico with a student class.”

In 2006 she was honored for her service on the board of Maryland Public Television.

Survivors include her husband of 71 years, Richard Davison, who worked in the family real estate business; two sons, Mark Davison of Baltimore and John Davison of Baltimore; a daughter, Joanna Davison Golden of Aspen, Colorado; a sister, Charlotte C. Weinberg of Philadelphia; and eight grandchildren.

Services were held Wednesday at Sol Levinson and Brothers.