Abram L. Sachar

Abram Leon Sachar (February 15, 1899 – July 24, 1993) was an American historian and founding president of Brandeis University.

He was born in New York City to Samuel Sachar, a Jewish immigrant from Lithuania, and Sarah Abramowitz, a native of Jerusalem. When he was 7 years old, his family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where his grandfather served as a chief rabbi. He was briefly enlisted for service in World War I, and then attended Washington University in St. Louis, where he earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees in history. During his junior year, he studied languages at Harvard and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1920. From 1920 to 1923 he studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, England, where he received his doctorate in history for his thesis on the Victorian House of Lords.

Upon his return to the United States, Sachar joined the faculty of the history department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, teaching Modern European and English History. He remained at this position for the next 24 years.

In 1926 he married Thelma Horwitz, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Washington University in St. Louis. They had three sons who rose to prominence in their respective professions: Howard M. Sachar, a distinguished American historian; Edward J. Sachar, a pioneering biological psychiatrist, and David B. Sachar, a gastroenterologist.

Sachar published his first book in 1927; this was followed by several other books in quick succession. He also lectured across the country from the 1920s to the 1990s, and appeared in a weekly educational television lecture show, The Course of Our Times; his analyses of problems in contemporary history were later published in the book of the same title. Sachar remained a working educator, historian, lecturer, and author until his death.

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