Joan Kaplan Davidson, a preservationist and philanthropist who set projects in motion that upgraded the quality of life in New York City, died on August 11 in Hudson, NY. She was 96.

Ms. Davidson served as chair of the New York State Council on the Arts in the 1970s, as New York State parks commissioner in the 1990s, and president of the J.M. Kaplan Fund from 1977 to 1993. The fund often has been the first stop for those seeking grants to save buildings, support cultural institutions or restore landmarks in New York, including Carnegie Hall and Gracie Mansion.

Ms. Davidson often could be seen picketing to save an endangered landmark building. “I’ve always thought we were different because we did not just write checks, we stepped in and got involved,” she told The New York Times in 1997, when the fund celebrated its 50th year of providing grants.

Thousands of Hasidic men converged for the funeral of the Rachmastrivka Rebbe in Borough Park, Brooklyn, on August 16. He was 92.                                                                               Getty Images

Philip L. Sherman, a mohel for 45 years, who claimed to have performed more than 26,000 ritual circumcisions, 11 in a single day including two sets of twins, died on August 9 at his home in Englewood, NJ. He was 67.

He also served as a cantor at several synagogues in New York, and occasionally worked as an actor. He played a judge on the Netflix series “Orange Is the New Black” and appeared in an episode of the Amazon Prime show “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

He said that sometimes even just by imagining the removal of the baby’s foreskin, one of the parents or a guest might pass out. When the actress and comedian Whoopi Goldberg told him that she hated attending a bris, Mr. Sherman offered her a suggestion. “The next time you go to one,” he advised, “do what I do. Close your eyes.” Just kidding, he added.

Nechama Tec, a Holocaust survivor whose book about the Bielski partisans inspired the Daniel Craig film “Defiance,” died on August 3 in New York City. She was 92.

Prior to the film adaptation of her 1993 book, Tec was best known within the academic world and the community of American Holocaust survivors. In her book and the film, Tuvia and Zus Bielski led Jewish partisans to fight the German occupiers in what is now western Belarus, rescuing Jews from extermination. The story of the Bielski brothers filled in omissions and distortions in connection with the Holocaust, she said. “Jews were not silent, were not victims going passively to their deaths; they were saving others while threatened by death themselves.”

Jerry Moss, who with the trumpeter Herb Alpert founded A&M Records, which at its peak from the 1960s to the ’80s was an independent powerhouse behind hits by the Carpenters, the Police, Janet Jackson, Peter Frampton, and Mr. Alpert’s group, the Tijuana Brass, among many others. He died at his home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles at age 88.

Built from humble beginnings in Mr. Alpert’s garage, A&M became a major force in pop music. In 1989, they sold A&M’s recorded music business to PolyGram for a reported $500 million. In 2000, they sold Rondor, their music publishing catalog, to Universal Music for an estimated $400 million.

In his later years, Mr. Moss had notable success owning racehorses. Giacomo won the Kentucky Derby in 2005, at extraordinary odds.

David Jacobs, the writer and producer who created the primetime soap operas “Dallas” and “Knots Landing” died on August 23 at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, CA. He was 84.

“Dallas aired for 14 seasons and 3576 episodes, starting out as a five-part miniseries in April 1978 before wrapping in May 1991. It was the No. 1 show in the Nielsen ratings after its 4^th, 5^th and 7^th seasons. Meanwhile, the spinoff, “Knots Landing,” debuted in December 1979 and also ran for 14 seasons and 344 episodes, a solid Thursday night staple through May 1993.

Alan Arkin, the star of “Get Smart” and “Little Miss Sunshine” and who appeared in more than 100 films in a career stretching over seven decades, died on June 29, in California. He was 89.

In the early 1960s, Arkin became an improv star at Chicago’s Second City, which led to scores of screen credits, including “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,” “Gross Pointe Blank,” and “Edward Scissorhands.” On television, he appeared in “Captain Kangaroo,” “Carol Burnett & Company,” “St. Elsewhere,” “Will & Grace,” and “BoJack Horseman.”

Toward the end of his life, Alan Arkin took up fine art painting, and he also authored a memoir. His last role was in “Minions: The Rise of Gru.”