David Kurtzman

David Harold Kurtzman (1904 – 1977) was the fourteenth Chancellor (1966–1967) of the University of Pittsburgh, and the last Superintendent of Public Instruction and first Secretary of Education (1967–1971) of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

David Kurtzman
David H. Kurtzman
14th University of Pittsburgh Chancellor
In office 1966–1967
Preceded by	Stanton Crawford
Succeeded by	Wesley Posvar
Secretary of Education of Pennsylvania
In office June 1967 – 1971[1]
Governor	Raymond P. Shafer; Milton Shapp
Preceded by	J. Ralph Rackley
Succeeded by	John Pittenger
Personal details
Born	(1904-01-11)January 11, 1904 Odessa, Imperial Russia
Died	February 22, 1977(1977-02-22) (aged 74) Pittsburgh, PA

Kurtzman became the University of Pittsburgh's Vice Chancellor for Finance in July of 1965, "at the height of a financial crisis at the University."[2] He was appointed Acting Chancellor after Stanton Crawford's sudden death of a heart attack seven months later, on January 26, 1966. Kurtzman's administration negotiated the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's bailout of Pitt's fiscal woes, through which the university became a state-related institution on August 23, 1966.

According to his obituary ten years later, after the bailout, as the university continued its search for a permanent chancellor, "trustees were heard to say 'If Dave Kurtzman were 10 years younger, we might not be looking.' Then 63, Dr. Kurtzman was two years short of the mandatory retirement age."[1] On January 13, 1967, the Board of Trustees announced its selection of Wesley Posvar as its new Chancellor, effective June 1, and promoted Kurtzman to the full rank of Chancellor until then, and Chancellor Emeritus afterward.

A ballroom in the university's William Pitt Union is named in his honor.

Kurtzman was born near Odessa, Ukraine, in then-czarist Russia, and survived pogroms as a boy, eventually immigrating to the United States in 1921. Although he did not start high school until age 19, he finished in under two years, then earned an undergraduate degree in accounting from Temple University and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in political science at the University of Pennsylvania.[1] He worked for many years at the Pennsylvania Economy League. There he served as a key aide to David L. Lawrence, mayor of Pittsburgh, and Richard King Mellon, financier, in their effort to build the city's first renaissance after World War II. Kurtzman joined the newly elected Governor Lawrence in 1959 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania as his secretary of administration.

After his time at Pitt, Kurtzman returned to Harrisburg in 1967 as State Superintendent of Public Instruction (later Secretary of Education) under Governors Raymond P. Shafer and Milton Shapp[1]; in this role he became the named respondent in the landmark US Supreme Court decision Lemon v. Kurtzman.

References

1. "Dr. Kurtzman, Ex-Chancellor at Pitt, Dies". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. February 23, 1977. pp. 1, 14. Retrieved March 28, 2020 – via Google News Archive.
2. "Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh, David H. Kurtzman (Acting), Administrative Files". University Archives & Special Collections. University Library System, University of Pittsburgh. 1966–1967. Retrieved March 30, 2020.

• Alberts, Robert C. (1987). Pitt: The Story of the University of Pittsburgh 1787-1987. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0-8229-1150-7.

Academic offices
Preceded by Stanton Crawford	14th University of Pittsburgh Chancellor 1966–1967	Succeeded by Wesley Posvar
Government offices |-			Unknown	Pennsylvania Secretary of Administration 1959–1963	Unknown
Preceded by J. Ralph Rackley as Superintendent of Public Instruction	Pennsylvania Secretary of Education 1967–1971	Succeeded by John Pittenger