More Information
A treasure trove of documents and information about Brandeis University presidents may be found at the university archives.
Past Presidents
Abram Leon Sachar
1948 to 1968
As Brandeis’ first president, Abram L. Sachar effectively built the university from the ground up into a first-class, internationally recognized teaching and research institution by exercising his abilities as an educator, visionary and fundraiser. An American historian and longtime professor of history at the University of Illinois, Sachar held a Ph.D. from Cambridge University in England. During his long career, he served on numerous committees and boards, was the recipient of many honors and published a number of books, including "A History of the Jews" and "The Course of Our Times." On his retirement as president, he became chancellor of the university, and later, chancellor emeritus. Sachar died in 1993 at the age of 94.
Morris Berthold Abram
1968 to 1970
Morris B. Abram, the second president of Brandeis, was a tireless advocate for civil rights and human rights, a towering figure in the American Jewish community, an adviser to five U.S. presidents, and a distinguished lawyer. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Georgia and went on to get a doctorate of law degree from the University of Chicago and a master's degree from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes scholar. When he assumed the Brandeis presidency during the turbulent '60s, he found a campus seething with the discontent of the era. His administration weathered a series of crises, including an 11-day takeover of Ford Hall by members of the Brandeis Afro-American Organization. From 1970 until the time of his death at the age of 81 in 2000, Abram was a partner in the New York City law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison.
Charles Irwin Schottland
1970 to 1972
Charles I. Schottland, dean of the university's Florence G. Heller Graduate School for Advanced Studies in Social Welfare, was tapped for the presidency by the board of trustees after the resignation of Morris B. Abram. Just two days after taking office, Schottland signed an agreement with the Afro-American Organization to bring 80 additional minority students to Brandeis, an issue that had been simmering during the Morris administration. Following two years at the helm of the university, Schottland returned to the Heller deanship. Prior to his time in the academic arena, Schottland had served as director of the California Deparatment of Social Welfare and as commissioner of the U.S. Social Security Administration during the Einsenhower administration. He died in 1995 at the age of 88.
Marver Hillel Bernstein
1972 to 1983
Marver Bernstein, a native of Mankato, Minn., earned bachelor and master's degrees at the University of Wisconsin, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and a doctorate at Princeton. He was a budget examiner for the federal government from 1942 to 1946, when he began his academic career at Princeton University. Bernstein taught for 25 years at Princeton, where he was the first dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, from 1964 to 1969. He served as the fourth president Brandeis from 1972 to 1983 and, later, as a professor of politics and philosophy in Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. Bernstein and his wife, Sheva, died tragically in a hotel fire outside Cairo, Egypt, in 1990. He was 71 years old.
Evelyn Erika Handler
1983 to 1991
Evelyn Handler was the first and only woman to serve as president of Brandeis. An expert in myelogenous leukemia, she held a law degree from Franklin Pierce Law Center and a Ph.D. from New York University. Notable achievements during her tenure include the initiation of the Volen Center for Complex Systems, the strengthening of life sciences at the university, admission to the Association of American Universities and founding membership in the University Athletic Association. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Hunter College and master’s and doctoral degrees from New York University.
Samuel O. Thier
1991 to 1994
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Samuel O. Thier attended Cornell University and then earned a doctor of medicine degree in 1960 from the State University of New York at Syracuse. Immediately prior to assuming the Brandeis presidency in May 1991, Thier was president of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences for six years. Before that, he held academic positions at Yale University, Harvard Medical School, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the George Washington University School of Medicine. Thier's record of achivement at Brandeis included stabilizing the uiversity's finances, developing a new undergraduate curriculum, recording record applications in graduate programs, opening the Intercultural Center and overseeing the near completion of the Volen Center and Shapiro Admissions Center. Thier left Brandeis in 1994 to assume the presidency of Massachusetts General Hospital.