of Sinai Temple, a Reform Jewish congregation in Champaign-Urbana. During World War II, Sachar worked as a radio news analyst in Chicago and New York, commenting on contemporary affairs. He was also involved with attempts to aid Jewish refugees, organizing a program to bring refugee students to the United States. University president In 1948 trustees of the newly formed, Jewish-sponsored, nonsectarian Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, asked Albert Einstein to be their first president. When he refused, their second choice was David Ben-Gurion, who also turned down the offer. Their third choice was Sachar, who had displayed his scholarly credentials and devotion to the Jewish people through previous leadership of the Hillel organization at the University of Illinois, and through his 1930 work, History of the Jews. During his 20-year tenure, Sachar's leadership and fund-raising skills were largely credited for building Brandeis into a major research institution. When he assumed office in 1948, Brandeis had 107 students and 13 faculty members; at the time of his death, it had 3,700 undergraduate and graduate students, and 360 full-time faculty members. Sachar personally raised $160 million for the expansion of the campus from a few buildings on a defunct medical-school campus to a complex of 90 buildings spread over 235 acres. Upon his retirement in 1968, he was named chancellor and then chancellor emeritus of Brandeis University, a title that allowed him to continue his fund-raising activities on behalf of the university. All told, he raised an estimated $250 million for Brandeis. Honors He was invited by President Lyndon B. Johnson to serve on the U.S. Advisory Commission on International Education and Cultural Affairs, among other state and national panels; he also served on the U.S. Holocaust Commission. He was also active in several educational and philanthropic boards. He was awarded honorary degrees from more than 30 American colleges and universities. He died of respiratory failure at his home in Newton, Massachusetts, on 24 July 1993. His wife of 67 years, Thelma, survived him; she died in 1997 and was interred beside him at a special plot, created at their request, near the Sachar International Institute at Brandeis University. Works A History of the Jews (1930; revised 1965) Sufferance is the Badge: The Jew in the Contemporary World (1939) The Course of Our Times (1972) The Redemption of the Unwanted (1984) Brandeis University: A Host at Last (1995) References Further reading Diamond,