IN MEMORIAM: DANNY SIMMONS JR., ARCHITECT OF BLACK ART'S INSTITUTIONAL FUTURE
- Jun 22
- 2 min read
Daniel Dwayne Simmons Jr. — abstract expressionist painter, poet, published author, and philanthropist — passed away on June 14, 2026, at the age of 72. For those who knew his work, not just his famous last name, the loss is seismic.
In New York, he was the oldest Simmons brother — the quiet one who watched Russell build Def Jam and Joey become Rev Run of Run-DMC — while he built something altogether different: a life in paint, a gallery, a movement. In 1995, he co-founded the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation with his brothers to expand arts access for disadvantaged urban youth. That founding act was not charity — it was correction. Simmons had spent years unable to find galleries willing to show his work as an emerging Black painter, and he understood that if that was his experience, it was everyone's experience. Rush Arts was the answer to that problem.
He became an avid collector of Black art, opened two galleries in downtown Manhattan, and grew the Rush Philanthropic Arts Organization into a global support system for Black artists. His own paintings — rooted in what he called Neo-African Abstract Expressionism — entered the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Smithsonian, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Chase Manhattan Bank, and the United Nations.
After decades of shaping New York's cultural landscape, Simmons relocated to Philadelphia to launch Rush Arts Philly, believing the city was ready for its next great cultural awakening. Rush Arts Philadelphia opened in September 2016 with a show called Power, Protest, and Resistance: The Art of Revolution — a title that perfectly encapsulated the man.
His niece Aoki Lee Simmons said it plainly: "There is no Run-DMC, no Def Jam, no NOTHING without Danny Simmons."
He is survived by his wife Keia and son Jamel. His legacy is survived by every artist whose career began because a door was open that he built.
Rest in power, Danny Simmons Jr. — 1953–2026.
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