Ronald D. Abramson

Ronald has been a vision­ary supporter of The Furni­ture Society and the field.

He served on The Furni­ture Soci­ety’s Board of Trustees and during this time, Ronald was instru­men­tal in the devel­op­ment of our Educational Grants.

Most recently, his support last year allowed us to create ​“In Their Words: Conver­sa­tions with Award of Distinc­tion recip­i­ents”, cele­brat­ing these accom­plished and influ­en­tial indi­vid­u­als and their contri­bu­tions to the field.

“Although Ronald D. Abramson’s success­ful Wash­ing­ton, DC law prac­tice seems worlds apart from the world of furni­ture — his stand­ing in the studio furni­ture world rests on his early crit­i­cal support of the then fledg­ling field: for this reason, he is consid­ered by many as the patron saint of Amer­i­can studio furni­ture. He bought and commis­sioned work from a diverse group of makers recog­niz­ing that the very absence of a defin­ing aesthetic was, in fact, the defi­n­i­tion of this field. Although his phil­an­thropic work has a wide reach and includes serving on multi­ple boards, he remains to many of us the person who gave us that encour­ag­ing pat on the shoul­der at a crit­i­cal time. As public recog­ni­tion of the studio furni­ture field began to grow and other collec­tors began to consider acquir­ing pieces, some­times with an eye towards future resale value, Ron Abram­son remained true to his core values and contin­ued to buy with an instinc­tive recog­ni­tion of good work and with the same gener­ous spirit that has provided support and encour­age­ment to many aspir­ing artists over the years.” - Bebe Johnson, Gallerist

Ronald D. Abram­son focuses on mergers and acqui­si­tions, corpo­rate gover­nance matters, real estate finance, real estate lending, tax plan­ning, busi­ness and succes­sion plan­ning, as well as estate plan­ning. Ronald serves on Buchanan’s Board of Directors.

Ronald has more than 40 years of expe­ri­ence in working with national and local compa­nies in devel­op­ing and execut­ing their strate­gic expan­sion and exit strate­gies, struc­tur­ing their real estate prospects and execut­ing their corpo­rate gover­nance and tax manage­ment plans. He also works with promi­nent clients in devel­op­ing their estate and succes­sion plan­ning, with a special empha­sis on charitable components.

In addi­tion to his law prac­tice, Ronald is promi­nent in the commu­nity. He is currently Chair­man of the Board of Direc­tors for the National Symphony Orches­tra and a member of the New York Univer­sity Board of Trustees, where he spear­headed the estab­lish­ment of the NYU-in-DC campus. He is Chair­man Emer­i­tus of the Board of Trustees of the pres­ti­gious Corco­ran Gallery of Art. He also serves on the Boards of the Wash­ing­ton Airports Task Force, Spoleto Festi­val USA, where he serves as the Trea­surer, the Historic Sixth & I Syna­gogue, the D.C. Jazz Festi­val and the D.C. College Access Program. Ronald was also an adjunct profes­sor at George­town Univer­sity Law Center for several years.

Ronald earned a BA from New York Univer­sity and JD from George­town Univer­sity Law Center. He is a proud grand­fa­ther and supporter of the arts who enjoys chamber music and jazz concerts in his spare time. Ronald has been selected for inclu­sion in The Best Lawyers in America© since 2018 in Real Estate Law. He was also named to the Wash­ing­ton, D.C. Super Lawyers list in 2020.

This year’s Award of Distinc­tion Trophy was designed and created by Cali­for­nia based wood­worker, sculp­tor, and FS member Fred Rose.

Archway — Blue gum Euca­lyp­tus from LA Arbore­tum
Base — Black Locust from Rancho Los Cerri­tos
Chair — Holly
Magni­fy­ing glass- Acrylic

Fred Rose grew up along the river in Carmel Valley, CA. He received his BFA in ceram­ics from Cali­for­nia State Univer­sity, Long Beach and his MFA in sculp­ture from Cali­for­nia State Univer­sity, Fuller­ton. Fred has been making wood sculp­ture for the last 30 years and taught Wood­work­ing at Cali­for­nia State Univer­sity, Long Beach for 7 years. Most of the wood for his work is milled from trees that are being taken down in the urban forests of Long Beach and Costa Mesa, Cali­for­nia. He currently works as a Studio Artist at his home in Costa Mesa, CA. 

Learn More about Fred and his work here