born Jan. 17, 1899, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.
died May 17, 1977, Santa Barbara, Calif.
U.S. educator and foundation president.
He attended Oberlin College and graduated from Yale University (A.B., 1921) and Yale Law School (LL.B., 1925), becoming dean of Yale Law School in 1927. At the Ford Foundation . He served as chairman of the board of editors of Encyclopædia Britannica (1943–74) and edited the 54-volume Great Books of the Western World (1952). He expounded his views on education in Higher Learning in America (1936).