Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer (March 25, 1930 – December 29, 1993) was an American Conservative rabbi who became a recognized international human rights activist while living and working in Argentina from 1958 to 1984, during the period of the "Dirty War" in the 1970s. He was elected by president Raúl Alfonsín to be one of the members of the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons. After the restoration of democracy in 1983, Meyer was awarded the nation's highest honor, the Order of the Liberator General San Martín, by the new president. In Argentina Meyer also led the congregation Comunidad Bet El and founded Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano, a Conservative Judaism rabbinical school in Buenos Aires that has trained generations of Spanish-speaking rabbis. Rabbi Meyer returned to the United States in 1984 and that year became rabbi of Congregation Bnai Jeshurun in New York City. He was called to revive the congregation of the oldest Ashkenazi synagogue in the city. He was one of those honored by president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to those who fought for the restoration of democracy in Argentina. Early life and education Marshall Theodore Meyer was born in Brooklyn New York in a Jewish family and raised in Norwich, Connecticut. He attended Dartmouth College, graduating in 1952. After meeting Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, he enrolled in the Jewish Theological Seminary. Heschel became his mentor and spiritual guide, whose influence and example profoundly affected Meyer's career as a religious leader. After receiving ordination in 1958, Meyer was called as a rabbi to the Congregación Israelita de la República Argentina (Templo Libertad), where he worked for two years. He then left and started the Comunidad Bet El in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Career in Argentina Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer used his energy and charisma to contribute to the Argentine Jewish community. He founded the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano, a rabbinical school in Buenos Aires that soon became the center of Conservative Judaism in Latin America. In it were ordained dozens of Spanish-speaking rabbis who served communities in Argentina, Latin America, and the rest of the world. Rabbi Meyer led Comunidad Bet El, a congregation that became a model of many other Conservative synagogues, both in Argentina and Latin America. The congregation established its own day-school. During the years of the military regime of 1976–1983, Rabbi Meyer became a strong critic of the military government and its violations of human rights.