Joel Zuker, a longtime Hunter College film historian who wrote books about mid-20th century directors and leftwing agitprop while guiding generations of students, died April 26 in New York City after a brief illness. He was 82 years old.
Zuker, who came to Hunter as an instructor in 1972, later led the department. He taught courses on introduction to cinema, film history, film theory, selected directors, silent films, comedies, film noir, westerns, film practicum, nonfiction film, and German, Italian, and Japanese cinema — basically, any subject that had been committed to celluloid.
“Joel loved film, and he mentored, inspired, and impacted tens of thousands of students during more than five decades at Hunter,” said Film and Media Department Chair Kelly Anderson. “His passing leaves a huge hole in the department and the film program, and in many of our hearts.”
Zuker’s first book, Ralph Steiner: Filmmaker and Photographer evolved out of his dissertation on the agitprop art of the left-wing artists photographers, filmmakers, and writers of the 1920s and 1930s. He also published guides on directors Arthur Penn and Francis Coppola and was working on a book on the films of Mel Brooks. He earned a master’s and doctorate in cinema studies from New York University.
Primarily a film historian, Zuker also wrote screenplays and shot film and video documentaries: on the contemporary painter Julian Lethbridge; Casino U, on casino gaming in Atlantic City, N.J; and another video on the effect of the gaming business on the Mashentucket Nation in Ledyard, Conn.
Mostly, however, he enjoyed teaching. In his Hunter College bio, Zuker mentioned that he had lectured or presented papers at colleges in Utah, Florida, Montana, New Hampshire, Vermont, Ohio, and even aboard a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
“The one place that is the most challenging, the most exciting, and the most rewarding to me both academically and spiritually is right here at Hunter,” he said.
Zuker is survived by his wife, Susan, and two daughters. A memorial service is planned at the college soon.
