Nanette L. Laitman

Nanette L. Laitman (born 1924, New York City - March 23, 2020) was an art collector and philanthropist. She has been involved with the board of the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) and its precursors in New York City for over 25 years. Laitman has also funded the Nanette Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America at the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art. Nanette Lasdon grew up in Westchester County, N.Y. where the Lasdon family owned what is now Lasdon Park and Arboretum. After the property was sold to Westchester County, she donated funds for the William and Mildred Lasdon Memorial Garden to the park. Nanette Lasdon was married to Robert Alan Laitman (1921-1998).

Three-dimensional art After attending an opening at what was then the American Craft Museum, Nan Laitman became a member of a collector's circle, visiting artists' studios in New York with a museum curator to see and learn about the artists' work. among many others.

Through the transition to Columbus Circle, Nanette Laitman was the board president, and served on the building committee.

Nanette Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Through gifts to the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution, Laitman funded the Nanette Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America. The project was planned around the collection of oral histories from 100 artists working with clay, fiber, glass, metal and wood.

quote|"These are the records of American artists who were overlooked and written out of the textbook history of American art. My dream was to reunite them with their colleagues in other disciplines as compatriots and equals."–Nanette Laitman, 2009 creating "a priceless record of the founders and builders of the American studio movement". Her work and the establishment of the museum have "given great credibility to the artists that were considered second tier up until now."

She has also supported initiatives in medical research. She funded the creation of the Nanette Laitman Clinical Scholars Program in Public Health at Weill Medical College, Cornell University in 2006. The first of the Laitman Clinical Scholars was Dr. Shari R. Midoneck. Laitman has also supported the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University.