Danny Simmons

Daniel "Danny" Simmons Jr. was a painter, poet, author, and philanthropist whose life was a testament to the transformative power of art. Born on August 17, 1953, in Hollis, Queens, New York, Danny grew up in a household where learning and creativity were inseparable. His father, Daniel Simmons Sr., was a Black history professor and poet; his mother, Evelyn, a teacher and painter. From them he inherited both a moral compass and an artist's eye — two forces that would shape everything he built. Danny earned a Bachelor's degree in social work from New York University and a Master's in public finance from Long Island University. He spent years working for the New York Bureau of Child Support, enforcing court orders in a job he found corrosive to the spirit. Then, in the late 1980s, after overcoming a twenty-year struggle with heroin addiction, he made the decision that would define the rest of his life: he left social work entirely and picked up a paintbrush for good. What followed was four decades of prolific creation. Danny founded the movement he called Neo-African Abstract Expressionism — a language of dots, tribal markings, and textile patterns that spoke, in his own words, of "Africa, roots, and connection." His work entered the collections of the Smithsonian, the Brooklyn Museum, Chase Manhattan Bank, and the United Nations, and was exhibited across Europe and West Africa. In 1990 he transformed his Brooklyn loft into the Corridor Gallery, and in 1995 he co-founded the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation alongside his brothers Russell and Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons, building a pipeline of arts access for underserved urban youth that would touch thousands of lives. He later established Rush Arts Philadelphia after relocating to the city in 2015, purchasing an old bank building to anchor a new community arts center. Danny's reach extended beyond the canvas. He co-created and co-produced HBO's Def Poetry Jam (2002–2007), which revitalized spoken-word poetry nationally, and its Broadway adaptation earned him a Tony Award in 2003. He published a novel, Three Days As The Crow Flies, and a poetry collection, I Dreamed My People Were Calling But I Couldn't Find My Way Home. He served on the boards of the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Public Library, and the New York Foundation for the Arts, and was Chairman of the New York State Council on the Arts. Danny Simmons passed away on June 15, 2026, at the age of 72. He is survived by his wife, Keia Simmons, and his son, Jamel Simmons. He leaves behind a legacy not only in paint and poetry, but in the countless artists whose careers he championed and the communities whose walls — and lives — he helped illuminate.