George Alpert was the first Chairman of the Brandeis University Board of Trustees. He held this position from 1946-1954 and remained a Board member for the rest of his life. In 1953, he received the University’s first honorary degree.
Born in 1898 and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Alpert graduated from English High School in 1915 and from Boston University Law School in 1918. From 1924-1927, he served as an assistant district attorney for Suffolk County, Massachusetts; he later opened the law firm Alpert & Alpert with his brother Herbert.
During that time he also served as the general counsel for the New Haven railroad’s biggest shipper. This represented the start of his professional relationship with the railroad industry. He was later appointed a director of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, and in 1956, was elected President.
Throughout his life, Alpert was active in philanthropic and educational organizations. In addition to his work at Brandeis, Alpert was an honorary co-chairman of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, a member of the board of trustees of the Franklin (N.H.) Hospital, a member of the Associated Jewish Philanthropies and the Combined Jewish Appeal, a trustee of Temple Ohabei Shalom, and a co-chairman of the United Jewish Appeal.
Alpert had three children with his first wife Gertrude Levin. After her death, he remarried but had no further children. George Alpert died in 1988.
