Samuel O. Thier
1991 to 1994
Samuel O. Thier's record of achievement at Brandeis included stabilizing the university'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 the first Shapiro Admissions Center. Thier served on the Heller School Board of Advisors from Jan. 2008 to Oct. 2016. He was chair of the board from Feb. 2009 to Feb. 2015.
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.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Thier graduated from Cornell University and then earned a medical degree from the State University of New York at Syracuse.
Thier left Brandeis in 1994 to assume the presidency of Massachusetts General Hospital. He died in 2026 at the age of 88.