Martin Meyerson

Martin Meyerson

Martin Meyerson at the University at Buffalo (1967)

Martin Meyerson at the University at Buffalo (1967)
Born November 14, 1922 (1922-11-14)
Brooklyn, New York
Died June 2, 2007 (2007-06-03) (aged 84)
Philadelphia, PA
Occupation President of the University of Pennsylvania

Martin Meyerson (November 14, 1922 – June 2, 2007)[1] was a United States city planner and academic leader best known as the President of the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) between 1970 and 1981.

Meyerson was born in Brooklyn in 1922 and graduated from Columbia University.[2] After a brief period working in the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, he started teaching at the University of Chicago. He obtained his master's degree in city planning from Harvard University.

Meyerson started work as an associate professor at Penn before working at Harvard. He then became Dean of the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley.[3] Meyerson was acting Chancellor in 1965[3] during the Free Speech Movement and is credited with helping to defuse the tension that had built up on that campus.[2]

He left Berkeley to become the President of what is now the State University of New York at Buffalo.[3] At the University at Buffalo, he broke ground and laid plans for the Amherst Campus, and presided over a period when students were active in demonstrating for rights.[3]

Meyerson became President of Penn in 1970.[3][4] During his term as President, he consolidated several colleges and programs into the school of arts and sciences and introduced its first affirmative action and equal opportunity programs for minorities and women.[5]

After leaving Penn, he served on a number of boards and in advisory positions, including that of the Monell Chemical Senses Center. He died of prostate cancer in June 2007.[2]

References

Academic offices
Preceded by
Gaylord Probasco Harnwell
President of the University of Pennsylvania
1970–1981
Succeeded by
Sheldon Hackney
Preceded by
Clifford C. Furnas
10th President of the University at Buffalo
1966-1969
Succeeded by
Robert L. Ketter
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