Brandeis Magazine

In September, the Brandeis Board of Trustees elected Meyer G. Koplow ’72, P’02, P’05, a member of the board since 2006, to serve as board chair.

Koplow was executive partner at New York law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where he remains of counsel. During his 41 years with the firm, he has negotiated a number of large, important settlements. For instance, he was responsible for the quarter-trillion-dollar settlement between the large tobacco companies and the 50 U.S. states.

Four years after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis, Koplow earned his JD from New York University School of Law, where he was executive editor, and note and comment editor at the New York University Law Review.

“Brandeis provided me with the educational foundation that enabled me to embark on my legal career, and it has been a privilege to support its academic mission for more than a decade now as a member of the board,” Koplow said after the vote.

During his time as a Brandeis trustee, Koplow chaired the budget and finance, and the nominating and governance committees. A community leader, he has served as president of his congregation, Young Israel of New Rochelle, New York, and was instrumental in the construction of its new building. He was an advisory director of the Metropolitan Opera, and a member of its budget and audit committees.

Says President Ron Liebowitz, “I look forward to working with Meyer and the rest of the board as we set the strategic direction at a time of great change and opportunity in higher education.”

Koplow succeeds former chair Larry Kanarek ’76, who stepped down from the board in July.