Alumnus Max Berger to Receive Honorary Degree at Baruch College 2019 Commencement

A graduate and leader from the Class of 1968, Berger is one of the most influential individuals in the history of Baruch College

May 17, 2019

Baruch College will award alumnus Max Berger (’68) the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, at the 2019 Commencement ceremony on June 3 to recognize his decades-long dedication to the mission and vision of the College. The degree is the highest honor Baruch College confers upon an individual for non-academic achievement.

Berger, a founding partner of the law firm Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP (BLB&G), received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accountancy from City College. As an undergraduate in the Bernard M. Baruch School of Business and Public Administration at City College, Berger played a pivotal role in advocating for the “Baruch School” to become an independent college.

Serving then as student council vice president, Berger and his colleagues successfully mobilized the student body, alumni and faculty, and defeated a proposal to convert Baruch into a two-year upper-division business school. As a result of their efforts, the then-called Board of Higher Education preserved the school as a four-year public institution within The City University of New York (CUNY) system, and making it independent of City College

Fast forward to 2019, Baruch College is now celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Watch Video: Baruch College: Celebrating 50 years of Access to Excellence and the American Dream

Decades of Dedication to Baruch College

Berger’s commitment and passion for Baruch College and its students have not waned over the five decades.

Since 2003, he has served on the Baruch College Fund Board of Trustees, and became its president in 2015. For the following two years, he led a dedicated scholarship campaign – the first ever in CUNY – that raised a record-setting $21 million, more than $6 million over the fundraising goal.

Berger, who received his Juris Doctorate degree from Columbia University Law School, established the Max Berger Pre-Law Program at Baruch College, which assists high-potential Baruch College students to gain admission to the nation’s top law schools.

Exemplary Career Accomplishments

A partner at BLB&G, Berger has litigated many of the firm’s most high-profile and significant cases, and has negotiated seven of the largest securities fraud settlements in history, each in excess of a billion dollars. In 2013, The National Law Journal selected Berger as one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in America.”

Currently, Berger is a member of the New York State, New York City, and American Bar Associations. He is also a member of the Federal Bar Council, American Law Institute, the Board of Trustees of The Supreme Court Historical Society; and an advisor to its Restatement Third: Economic Torts project.

At Columbia Law School, Berger serves as a member of its Center on Corporate Governance, the Dean’s Council, and the Board of Visitors.  Due to Berger’s generosity, the Dale and Max Berger Public Interest Law Fellowship was created in 2000. Fellowships are awarded to Columbia University students who have demonstrated exceptional dedication for leadership and promise in public interest law work.

2019 Commencement Ceremony

Baruch College will hold its 2019 Commencement Exercises for both undergraduate and graduate students on Monday, June 3 at Barclays Center at 620 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, beginning at 9:30 am.

Keynote Speaker: Honorable Carl E. Heastie, serving as the 100th Speaker of the New York State Assembly, will address the Class of 2019. Speaker Heastie (D, 83rd A.D.) has the historic distinction of being the first AfricanAmerican to serve as leader of the New York State Assembly.

An alumnus of Baruch College, Heastie (’07) received a Master in Business Administration with a concentration in finance from the Zicklin School of Business.

Learn more about Speaker Heastie and his advocacy for education.

Watch: Commencement Ceremony will be live streamed on June 3 on the Baruch College website.

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