Daniel Jay Dickerson (1922-2009) was born in Jersey City, New Jersey and studied art at Cooper Union in New York between 1941 and 1946. He received both his BFA (1947) and MFA (1949) from Cranbrook Academy in Detroit.
Dickerson was Art Department chairman and taught at Finch College in New York between 1969 and 1978. He then taught at the National Academy of Design in New York between 1977 and 1988 and at the Art Students League in New York between 1978 and 1990. He was elected to the National Academy in 1995.
Dickerson exhibited widely including the Whitney Museum, the Pennsylvania Academy, The National Academy of Design and others. His work is included in numerous private and institutional collections.