Dr. Bernard Lander - Founding President of Touro University

Dr. Bernard Lander was an inspirational leader and visionary who revolutionized the field of education. As an educator and preeminent scholar, Dr. Lander devoted his life to Jewish and general higher education. Dr. Lander founded Touro College in 1970 and served as its first president until his passing in February 2010. Under his stewardship, Touro underwent significant growth, becoming an institution with multiple campuses and international reach. In February 2022, Touro was granted University status by the New York State Board of Regents. Today, Touro University educates approximately 19,000 students across the United States and around the world.

Dr. Lander’s creative genius and original thinking continues to be reflected in Touro’s innovative approach to the field of higher education. He believed that it was his mission in life to strengthen Jewish continuity through the myriad of Torah and educational institutions that he established, and to provide opportunities for advancement for individuals from all walks of life.

Before founding Touro College, Dr. Lander was recognized as one of the foremost influences on American Jewry. After receiving semicha (rabbinical ordination) from his beloved teacher, Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchik, he assumed the prestigious pulpit position at Beth Jacob Congregation in Baltimore, Maryland. Soon thereafter, in recognition of his work at Columbia University while earning his doctorate in sociology and his communal leadership, he was named associate director of former New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia's Committee on Unity, a precursor to the city's Commission on Human Rights.

In 1958, Dr. Lander was appointed dean of the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Yeshiva University, where he played a major role in the establishment of a network of graduate schools. He also served for over thirty years as vice president of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, where he emerged as a spokesman for the American Jewish community and was deeply involved in the creation of its acclaimed youth movement, the National Conference of Synagogue Youth. Simultaneously, he was a professor of sociology at The City University of New York and was selected to serve on several presidential commissions that dealt with social policy issues. Touro College and Touro University are Dr. Bernard Lander’s legacies, institutions that will continue to provide quality education for many generations to come.