Joan Cullman, a Tony Award-winning producer who co produced the Broadway premiere of the French and British hit, Art, died March 18, 2004, at her winter home in Jamaica, according to The New York Times. She was 72 and also resided in Manhattan and East Hampton, NY. The cause of death was a heart attack, her daughter, Tracy Straus, told the Times.

Ms. Cullman produced a number of theatrical works beside Yasmina Reza's Art, which won the Tony and New York Drama Critics Circle awards in 1998.

As a producer, she was also Tony-nommed for David Hare's Skylight, a Best Play nominee in 1997; The Play What I Wrote, for Special Theatrical Event in 2003; and Sweet Smell of Success, for Best Musical in 2002.

Her other Broadway producing credits include Amy's View, The Judas Kiss, The Rink, Oh, Brother!, One Night Stand and Carmelina.

At Lincoln Center Theater, Ms. Cullman was a vice chairwoman of the board and served on the board since 1985. At Lincoln Center she created the Joan Cullman Award for Extraordinary Creativity, whose recipients (earning a cash prize) included Tom Stoppard, Stockard Channing, Julie Taymor, Spalding Gray, among others.

According to the New York Times, she was born Joan Paley in Far Rockaway, Queens, graduated from Brooklyn College and in her early career was an assistant to Stan Lee, the creator of "Spider-Man" for Marvel Comics.

Her marriage to Barnard Sachs Straus ended in divorce. She is survived by her husband Joseph F. Cullman III of Manhattan, the chairman emeritus of the Philip Morris Companies in New York; son, Barney Straus Jr., of Evanston, IL; brother, Leon Paley of Far Rockaway; and a grandson.