Joel Fleishman, whose prominence as an expert on philanthropy was only the most public side of a man whose wide network of friends in high places, immense fundraising talents, and deep knowledge of subjects like classical music and fine wine made him an influencer among the nation’s wealthy and powerful, died on Sept. 30 in Chapel Hill, NC. He was 90

Having grown up in a tight-knit Jewish community in Fayetteville, he remained deeply religious and raised money for Jewish student life at Duke. In 2021, the university’s Chabad chapter purchased a building for its new home, which it renamed Fleishman House.

He taught his final class in 2023, bringing a five-decade teaching career to an end — but not, he insisted, his career as a whole. “I’m not retiring now,” he said in an interview after his last lecture. “I’m just downsizing.”