Dr. Walter I. Ackerman
P'43, BJEd'50, MHL'54, HD'87, whose lifelong dedication to promoting the quality and availability of Jewish education enriched the lives of students around the world, died August 12, 2003, in Jerusalem, at 78. Within the Hebrew College community and to the many Jewish educators who knew him as friend and mentor, his memory remains an undiminished force of influence and inspiration.
"My feeling is a sense of deep personal loss," said President Gordis, recalling his close friend of 45 years and former colleague. "Ackie was an extraordinary personality who made an indelible impact on generations of Jewish leaders and educators in the United States and Israel."
In a career that encompassed a series of senior administrative and teaching positions in Boston, New York, Los Angeles and Beersheva, Ackerman was best known for his work at both the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, where he served as Dean of the Teachers Institute and Vice President for Academic Affairs from 1964 to 1973, and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Beersheva, Israel, where he was named chair of the Department of Education in 1973. Instrumental in building Ben-Gurion University into one of Israel's leading educational institutions, he served there for over 20 years as dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Shane Family Professor of Education and founding director of the School of Continuing Education. Equally influential as an advocate for making public education more accessible to culturally disadvantaged students in Israel, he was also active on several committees focused on shaping the structure and curriculum of the state school system.
At Hebrew College, Ackerman was part of a legendary group of young scholars known as "The Four," all of whom pursued dual courses of study at Hebrew College and Harvard University from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s. Among the first students to be awarded the College's Master of Hebrew Literature degree, he, along with Arnold Band, Isador Twersky and David Weinstein, also served as teaching fellows at the College in 1954 and 1955. In addition to his Hebrew College degrees, he received a BA, EdM and EdD from Harvard, and an honorary degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary.
A strong proponent of Jewish summer camps as a venue for informal education, Ackerman served as director at Camp Yavneh from 1953 to 1959, at Camp Ramah in California from 1960 to 1969 and at Camp Ramah in Canada from 1975 to 1977.
Writer and editor of numerous publications, articles, books and reviews in the field of Jewish education, he was widely published in the United States and Israel. He was the beloved husband of the late Frances (Myers) Ackerman, and is survived by his children, Shira, David, Miriam and Naomi, and 11 grandchildren.
Photograph (at Camp Yavneh) by Alston Studios
The following are excerpts from the eulogy delivered by Professor
Ilan Troen P'58, BJEd'62, at the funeral service for Professor
Walter Ackerman at the Menuchah Nechamah Cemetery in Beersheva on August 17, 2003.
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