CCS sadly notes that Robert L. Bernstein, founding Chair of Human Rights Watch passed on May 27 in New York City of respiratory failure. He was 96 years old and a life well lived. His interest in Human Rights started in the 1970’s with a visit to Moscow and visits with dissidents, such as Andrei Sakharov. This led him to create the Fund for Free Expression. After the 1975 Helsinki Accords he also formed Helsinki Watch to monitor basic freedoms behind the Iron Curtain. This was followed by similar organizations around the world which merged in 1988 to form Human Rights Watch. During this time he was the CEO of Random House Publishing, but devoted considerable time to human rights issues. CCS would like to offer its collective condolences – his good works will be sorely missed. An obituary can be found in both the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/27/obituaries/robert-l-bernstein-publisher-and-champion-of-dissent-dies-at-96.html?searchResultPosition=1 and the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/robert-bernstein-random-house-publisher-and-human-rights-advocate-dies-at-96/2019/05/28/6b85f126-8153-11e9-bce7-40b4105f7ca0_story.html?utm_term=.c2ed3bc917e9
Who We Are
Co-chairs
Joel L. Lebowitz, Rutgers University
Walter Reich, George Washington University
Eugene Chudnovsky, Lehman College
Alexander Greer, Brooklyn College
Vice-chairs
Biology – Max E. Gottesman, Columbia University
Chemistry – Zafra Lerman, MIMSAD Inc.
Computer Science – Rachelle Heller, The George Washington University
Engineering – Philip Sarachik, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering
Computer Science – Jack Minker, University of Maryland, College Park
Mathematics – Simon Levin, Princeton University
Honorary Board Members
Nancy Andrews, Duke University
Myles Axton, Chief Editor, Genetics and Genomics Next
David Baltimore, California Institute of Technology*
Alan J. Bard, University of Texas
David Gross, University of California, Santa Barbara*
James Langer, University of California, Santa Barbara
Peter Lax, New York University
Giorgio Parisi, Roma I University La Sapienza
John C. Polanyi, University of Toronto*
Stuart Rice, University of Chicago
Sir Richard J. Roberts, New England Biolabs*
Maxine Singer, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Alfred I. Tauber, Boston University
Myrna Weissman, Columbia University
Former Honorary Board Members
Jacob Bigeleisen (deceased), SUNY, Stony Brook
Raoul Bott (deseased) Harvard University
Owen Chamberlain (deceased), University of California, Berkeley
Stanley Deser (deceased), Brandeis University
Edward Gerjuoy (deceased), University of Pittsburgh
Pierre Hohenberg (deceased), New York University
Walter Kohn (deceased), University of California, Santa Barbara*
Louis Nirenberg (deceased), New York University
Marshall Nirenberg (deceased), National Institutes of Health*
Myriam Sarachick (deceased), City College of New York
Harold Scheraga (deceased), Cornell University
Sylvan Schweber (deceased), Brandeis University
Steven Weinberg (deceased), University of Texas, Austin*
Rosalyn S. Yalow (deceased), Mount Sinai School of Medicine*
* Nobel laureate