Professor Emeritus Ari Munzner, Passed Away at 95 Years Old

A beloved instructor and peer to many, Ari taught at MCAD from 1955 to 1993, and continued to mentor MFA students for many years before officially retiring in 2005. Ari received his MFA in painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art (1955). He chaired the Minneapolis School of Arts’ (later named the Minneapolis College of Art and Design) Division of Fine Arts from 1969 to 1974, and was appointed Dean of Faculty in 1982. In recognition of his artistic practice and teaching, he received an honorary MFA from MCAD in 1988.

Ari was a man of tremendous resilience. At the age of seven, he and his family fled Nazi Germany, eventually finding refuge in Iraq, then New York, and finally Minneapolis. His life was shaped by displacement, adaptation, and creativity. Tragically, during the George Floyd riots, Ari lost all of his artwork in a devastating fire. Yet even in the face of such loss, he remained philosophical. In a 2020 Star Tribune article, he reflected on his loss: "The whole idea of starting over is a continuity, it is a going from one state of matter to another." These words echo the way he lived his life–rebuilding and evolving. Ari’s journey was not only marked by hardship, but also by the remarkable capacity to start again.

Howard Quednau, Professor of Fine Arts, reflects, “Ari Munzner was the heart and soul of MCAD for more than thirty years, and had a profound impact on our community.”