page_title: Abraham Rogatnick
section_title: Retirement and death
hierarchical_section_title: Abraham Rogatnick / Retirement and death
caption_attribution_description: English: Abraham in Arthur Ericksons garden posing as the character of Dante in his play, 'Descent to the Underworld'.
context_page_description: Abraham Jedidiah Rogatnick was a Canadian-American architect and professor.
context_section_description: After retiring from UBC, Rogatnick began a new career as an actor playing roles—"usually dying old men"—in a variety of Hollywood movies and local plays including Fiddler on the Roof at The Vancouver Playhouse. He directed and played his own roles in his Vancouver Fringe Festival show, 'Stories that could not be Told', about his World War II experiences, and the role of Dante and The Grim Reaper in 'Descent to the Underworld'  which he performed at the Western Front.
  Rogatnick joined the Board of Directors of the Contemporary Art Gallery in 2000 and served until
  2002. He took a leading role in overseeing the design of the CAG's purpose-built facility under construction at that time. He also took a leading role in the campaign to fund the creation of the facility, and the smaller gallery space is named in honour of Alvin Balkind. Following his retirement from the Board, Rogatnick maintained frequent correspondence with many Vancouver artists and created a salon in which invited speakers presented their ideas on arts, culture and society. These initial informal meetings have evolved into Sam Sullivan's Public Salons held at The Vancouver Playhouse. Rogatnick was active in the politics of the city from supporting harm reduction drug policies, opposing the Ward system, electing Sam Sullivan as Mayor and advocating a renewal of the Vancouver Art Gallery at its current site.
  "I remember once an entire exam—this was in the days before he'd abandoned exams—was one question," said Bing Thom, the architect who would go on to design the Chan Centre at UBC and SFU's Central City campus in Surrey. "The question was this: 'If you had to do
  something to the Vancouver courthouse, what would you do?' I said it should
  become an art gallery." Many years later Thom was appointed project director
  for Arthur Erickson's Robson Square development. "Abe always talked about the
  importance of the public realm: the public space, the street edge," said Thom.
  "The street as the living room of the city. He taught us what urbanity meant."
  Rogatnick died in Vancouver.
caption: Rogatnick in Arthur Erickson's garden
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