Louis M. Hacker

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Louis M. Hacker
Born(1899-03-17)March 17, 1899
New York
, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Academic career
InstitutionColumbia University
FieldEconomic history

Louis Morton Hacker (March 17, 1899 – March 22, 1987) was an American

School of General Studies, and author. He is known as a leading proponent of adult education.[1]

Biography

Hacker, son of Morris and Celia (Waxelbaum) Hacker, was born and raised in New York City in Williamsburg, a neighborhood in Brooklyn. After attending the Brooklyn Boys' High School, he studied at Columbia College, Columbia University and Columbia University, where he obtained his AB in 1922, and his MA in 1923.[2]

After graduation in 1923 Hacker started as assistant editor at the

School of General Studies, where he served until 1958.[1]

In 1937 he had been visiting professor at the University Wisconsin,[3] in 1939 at the Ohio State University, in 1945 at Utah State Agricultural College, in 1953 at the University Hawaii, and in 1970 at the University Puget Sound. In 1948 he had been appointed Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professor of American History for one year at the University of Oxford. In addition to the scientific work, he was involved in the American Civil Liberties Union.

Hacker died in Le Roy, New York in 1987 at the age of 88.[1]

Work

Hacker was a leading proponent of adult education. In an interview he had explained:

"Many students come to us 10, 20, 30 years after graduation from high school... They are intelligent and serious but they could not pass a college-entrance examination after such a long interruption of their studies. They want to try a college course, perhaps only one or two, before deciding whether they can go on. We let them try. Why not?"[4]

Hacker's research interests were in the field of American history and its social economic development, as well as the life and work of some of its greatest entrepreneurs such as Andrew Carnegie, Alexander Hamilton and Joseph M. Proskauer.

Selected publications

References

  1. ^ a b c "Louis M. Hacker, 88 Educator," New York Times, March 23, 1987.
  2. ^ Who's who Among North American Authors, Vol. 6, 1935, p. 436
  3. ^ a b Durward Howes. America's Young Men, Volume 3. Richard Blank Publishing Company, 1938. p. 239
  4. ^ Quote from interview, cited in 1987 obituary in New York Times.

External links

  • Louis M. Hacker, Columbia Daily Spectator, Volume CVI, Number 62, 15 January 1962 (with image)