David M. Kahn (1950- ) was born in Rockville Center, Long Island, and grew up in Manhattan, where his father worked in advertising. Kahn attended high school at Blair Academy in New Jersey and then earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in Art History at Columbia University. He began a Ph.D. program in Art History at Harvard University but left and began working for the National Parks Service in New York City, as curator of historic sites. He was Executive Director of the Brooklyn Historical Society from 1982 to 1997. After that he was director at several historical museums, including the San Diego History Center and the Adirondack Museum. He lives in Blue Mountain Lake, New York.