{{Short description|American designer and activist}} {{Infobox person | name = Melvin Dwork | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = February 9, 1922 | birth_place = Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2016|6|14|1922|2|9}} | death_place = New York City, U.S. | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = | education = Southeast High School | alma_mater = Kansas City Art Institute<br/>Parsons School of Design | employer = | occupation = Interior designer | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | political_party = | boards = | partner = John Butler | children = | parents = Henry Dwork<br/>Esther Brown | relatives = }} '''Melvin Dwork''' (February 9, 1922 – June 14, 2016) was an American interior designer and LGBT activist. He was discharged from the United States Navy in World War II for his homosexuality. He eventually had his dishonorable discharge changed to honorable in 2011. Following the war, he studied design and won several awards.<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/obituaries/melvin-dwork-once-cast-from-navy-for-being-gay-dies-at-94.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160616203722/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/obituaries/melvin-dwork-once-cast-from-navy-for-being-gay-dies-at-94.html|title=Melvin Dwork, Once Cast From Navy for Being Gay, Dies at 94|first=Robert D.|last=McFadden|newspaper=The New York Times|archive-date=June 16, 2016|date=June 16, 2016}}</ref>
== Early life and education == Dwork was born on February 9, 1922, at Kansas City, Missouri, to parents Henry Dwork and the former Esther Brown.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> After graduating from Southeast High School in 1939, he spent two years as a student at the Kansas City Art Institute.<ref name="nytimes.com"/>
Dwork then attended the Parsons School of Design in New York City in 1941 and 1942.<ref name="nytimes.com"/>
== Adult life == During World War II, Dwork served in the U.S. Navy and then applied for officer candidate school. In 1944, he began classes at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina. After his partner was arrested and revealed that Dwork was his partner, military police arrested Dwork in Charleston in 1944.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> He was jailed, labeled "deviant" by psychiatrists and then discharged as "undesirable."<ref name="nytimes.com"/>
After leaving the Navy, Dwork returned to New York City and went on to become a successful interior designer in New York City.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> He took classes at the Parsons School of Design, worked for antique dealers and worked alongside Yale Burge in the 1960s and James Maguire in the 1970s before striking out on his own.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> Dwork was elected to the Interior Design Hall of Fame in 1993.<ref name='IDHoF'>{{cite web|title=Melvin Dwork: 1993 Hall of Fame Inductee|url=http://www.interiordesign.net/articles/8418-melvin-dwork/|work=Interior Design Hall of Fame|publisher=Interior Design|accessdate=June 17, 2016}}</ref>
== Naval discharge status == Dwork spent years trying to remove his naval discharge status from "undesirable" to "honorable." With support from pro-gay and lesbian military employees and veterans, Dwork succeeded in winning that status change in 2011, shortly before the U.S. military ended its "don't ask, don't tell" policy.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> Dwork is thought to have been the first World War II veteran to expunge an "undesirable" discharge.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> The ruling entitled him to veterans benefits.<ref name="nytimes.com"/>
Filmmaker Michael Jacoby made a still-unreleased documentary, titled ''The Undesirable'', about Dwork's case.
== Personal life == According to Dwork, he and choreographer John Butler were companions from 1961 until 1993, when Butler died.<ref name="nytimes.com"/>
Dwork lived in Manhattan until his death on June 14, 2016, at the age of 94. He was survived by a brother, Irvin.<ref name="nytimes.com"/>
==References== {{Reflist}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dwork, Melvin}} Category:2016 deaths Category:1922 births Category:American interior designers Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II Category:Kansas City Art Institute alumni Category:LGBTQ people from Missouri Category:American LGBTQ rights activists Category:Parsons School of Design alumni Category:Artists from Kansas City, Missouri