Benjamin Mordecai III, associate dean of the School of Drama and former managing director of the Yale Repertory Theatre, died on May 8 in New Haven after a long illness. He was 60 years old.

Mordecai was also an award-winning commercial theater producer. He is currently represented on Broadway with the new original production of "Brooklyn The Musical" and at the Yale Repertory Theatre with August Wilson's "Radio Golf." He produced 10 of Wilson's plays on Broadway, off-Broadway, regionally and in London's West End.

At the School of Drama, Mordecai both taught and chaired the school's graduate management program. In addition, he was responsible for financial aid and recruitment. He managed the Yale Rep from 1982 to 1993.

Mordecai transferred nine plays from Yale to Broadway, including five plays by Wilson, all of which were nominated for Tony Awards for Best Play: "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" (1984-1985); "Fences" (1987-1988), which won a Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize in 1987; "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" (1988); "The Piano Lesson" (1990-1991), which won the 1990 Pulitzer Prize; and "Two Trains Running" (1992), which was nominated for a Pulitzer.

The other plays he transferred from Yale to Broadway, are "A Walk in the Woods," "Blood Knot," and the Eugene O'Neill Centennial productions of "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and "Ah, Wilderness!" with Jason Robards and Colleen Dewhurst.

Besides the playwright, Mordecai was the only person to have worked on the original productions of all of August Wilson's plays in his 10-play epic cycle. Mordecai also produced Wilson's "Jitney" at the Union Square Theatre in the fall of 2000 and at London's Royal National Theatre. "Jitney" received the Olivier Award for Best New Play.

In addition to the Olivier Award, Mordecai received four Tony Awards -- for "Fences" and "Angels in America, Parts I and II" -- as well as an Outstanding Regional Theatre citation for the Yale Rep; the first Robert Whitehead Award for outstanding commercial producing; two NAACP Theatre Awards for producing "The Piano Lesson" and "Two Trains Running"; and a 1998 Special Achievement Award from the New England Theatre Conference.

"Producing theater of such importance might, in and of itself, be a life's work for many people, but Ben was also deeply personally committed to the teaching mission of the School of Drama, where his impact has been profound," said James Bundy, dean of the school and artistic director of the Yale Rep, in a letter to faculty, staff and students.

"An outstanding and accomplished professional, a generous teacher and colleague, Ben believed in artists and spent his life supporting them wherever he found them: in the classroom, in production, in mentoring and in the field," Bundy added. "Over 1,400 students felt the benefit of his presence at the School of Drama since he began teaching here, and hundreds of other graduates have deepened their connection to Yale and to the theater through Ben's energetic engagement with alumni affairs."

Born Dec. 10, 1944 in New York City, Mordecai was also a founder, and for 11 years the producing director, of the Indiana Repertory Theatre. In 1992 he founded the theatrical producing and management firm Benjamin Mordecai Productions Inc., and he was the managing partner of Producers Four, a theatrical development and producing company operating in the United States and Europe. Recent Producers Four productions include "Hitchcock Blonde" in London and "Sixteen Wounded" on Broadway.

In the last two seasons, Mordecai produced on Broadway the revival of "Flower Drum Song," the new play "Sixteen Wounded" and David Henry Hwang's "Golden Child." Off-Broadway, he produced "Thunder Knocking on the Door" and "Endpapers." He also produced Anna Deveare Smith's "Twilight: Los Angeles" and was executive producer of "Angels in America." He presented Lanford Wilson's "Redwood Curtain" and was associate producer of "The Kentucky Cycle." He produced three national tours: "Gate of Heaven," Donald Byrd's "The Harlem Nutcracker" (for three seasons) and this past season's "Flower Drum Song."

Over the past 20 years, Mordecai was active with theater in Russia and Eastern Europe. In 1989, he was general manager for the Broadway production of "A Walk in the Woods" in Moscow and Vilnius, Lithuania. He was president of the American Theatre Exchange Initiative, an organization dedicated to the continued interchange between the American and Russian theater communities. In 1998, Mordecai produced the centennial tour of the Moscow Art Theatre with its production of Chekhov's "The Three Sisters" -- marking the company's first official visit to America in 75 years.

Mordecai served on the board of the Classic Stage Company.

He is survived by his wife, Sherry Lynn Morley Mordecai; and his daughter, Rachel Elizabeth Mordecai. A memorial service is planned for the fall on campus. Contributions may be sent to the Benjamin Mordecai Fund at Yale, School of Drama, P.O. Box 208244, New Haven, CT 06520.

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