Martin H. Belsky
Martin H. Belsky's lifelong pursuit of justice and fair treatment for all will be advanced by his election to board chair of the Anti-Defamation League region that covers Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and the western half of Pennsylvania.
Belsky, dean of the School of Law at The University of Akron, was handed the gavel on Dec. 1 at the annual meeting of the Ohio/Kentucky/Allegheny Region.
"In both my professional and community work," Belsky said, "I have demonstrated my commitment to human and civil rights, and with the increase of hate and vitriol, all of us must renew our commitment to ADL's mission."
Belsky was named dean and the Randolph Baxter Professor of Law at Akron in 2008. From 1995 to 2007, he served as dean and professor at the University of Tulsa College of Law, and from 1986 to 1995, he served as dean and president and professor at Albany Law School.
He began his career as a prosecutor and then chief prosecutor in Philadelphia, has worked as a Congressional chief counsel, federal agency administrator, and public policy center director.
Belsky, a longtime member of the ADL board, served on the league's National Leadership Council and D.C. Civil Rights Committee in the 1970s, and as the regional board chair in New York.
In the community, Belsky is a member of the board of the Akron Jewish Community Board, chair of the Community Relations Committee, and vice president and member of Ohio Jewish Communities.
Belsky is a graduate of the Columbia University School of Law and is married to law professor emeritus Kathleen Waits. They have two children, Allen Frederick Belsky and Marcia Elizabeth Belsky.
Founded in 1921, The University of Akron School of Law promotes justice, the protection of individual liberty and the rule of law through our commitment to excellence in teaching, scholarship and service. Graduates of the school have excelled at recent Ohio bar exams, with 100 percent pass rate for first-time takers in February 2011 (ranked No. 1 in Ohio). Learn more at www.uakron.edu/law.
The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.
Media contacts: Laura Massie, 330-972-6476 or massie1@uakron.edu, or Diana Vanucci, 330-972-2063 or diana@uakron.edu.