Remembering Two Influential Brandeis Leaders
Jan. 7, 2026
Dear colleagues,
The Brandeis community deeply mourns the recent deaths of former Presidents Dr. Samuel O. Thier, and Stuart H. Altman, the Sol C. Chaikin Professor of National Health Policy, emeritus.
Thier, 88, served as university president from 1991-94, when he left to assume the presidency of Massachusetts General Hospital. He died Saturday, Jan. 3.
Altman, 88, a renowned health economist and scholar, served as interim president in 1991, immediately preceding Thier’s tenure at Brandeis. He died Jan. 1 in North Carolina.
Funeral arrangements for Altman are private; a celebration of life is being scheduled. Arrangements for Thier will be shared if and when they become available.
Both leaders were integral to Brandeis’ growth and stature as a research university.
Thier brought a unique blend of academic brilliance and administrative know-how when he arrived on campus in 1991. He was credited with stabilizing the university’s finances, and ushered in a new undergraduate curriculum while growing graduate programs. He opened the Intercultural Center and shepherded the construction of the Volen National Center for Complex Systems and the Shapiro Admissions Center. At MGH, he presided over the hospital’s merger with Brigham and Women’s Hospital to form Partners Healthcare.
Altman advised on health policy to five U.S. presidential administrations, as well as numerous congressional leaders, governors and state officials. In 2012, Gov. Deval Patrick appointed him inaugural chair of the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission; Gov. Charles Baker reappointed him to the post in 2016; he served in that role until 2022. Altman was named among the most influential people in health policy and in health care by two national publications, Health Affairs and Modern Healthcare.
In addition to his stint as interim president at Brandeis from 1990-91, Altman also served as dean of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, and was founder and co-director of the Schneider Institutes for Health Policy and Research. He will be remembered by countless Brandeis alumni as a transformative and tireless educator, who continued to lecture in several courses after his retirement last spring.
May their memories always be a blessing.
Sincerely,
Carol Fierke, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs