Volume 67, Issue 3  

Stanton Elected Board of Trustees Chairman
by Zack Streit

At its first meeting of the academic year, Yeshiva’s Board of Trustees officially appointed Ronald P. Stanton, vice-chairman of the university board and chairman of Yeshiva’s $400 million capital campaign, as the seventh chairman of the Board.   Stanton, whose tenure seems to have been fait accompli as early as June of this year, succeeds Chairman Emeritus Robert M. Beren, who allegedly chose not to seek reelection and thus let his two-year term expire because he would not have garnered the requisite number of votes.

Sources close to the Board have revealed that Beren shared a tenuous relationship with Yeshiva President Dr. Norman Lamm, at least in part due to the chairman emertius’ espousal of what has been referred to as “a more secular vision” for the future of the university.  The fact that Beren was also known for taking a hands-on approach to university governance, opting to consult with Rabbi Lamm less frequently than his predecessors, is said to have also facilitated the ongoing tension between the two. 

But, sources say, a disparate view on who should ascend to the university helm post-Rabbi Lamm was the primary source of friction between the two big-wigs: Beren endorsed Undersecretary of Defense Dov Zakheim and Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, spiritual leader of Efrat, for the post of university president – two candidates hotly contested by Rabbi Lamm.  The withdrawal of the candidacies of Zakheim and Riskin fueled the disenchantment of many Board members, enabling Rabbi Lamm to gather the necessary votes to block Beren’s re-nomination, or as one senior member of the university put it, “to wage a coup.”

Rabbi Lamm, however, disputes such claims.  “There was nothing revolutionary about the Board’s change in leadership,” he said.  “Officially the chairman’s term is one year but that usually translates into a two to three year term.”  Rabbi Lamm also pointed to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, and Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary as examples of graduate and affiliated institutions that have recently assumed new board chairman.  

The President went on to explain that “every once in a while you need a shakeup, because, in any job, you need someone new to take a fresh look at [the job].” Very often, Rabbi Lamm continued, “you get so entrenched in your position that you’re not open to other ideas.”

Lamm’s analysis aside, few of Yeshiva’s top brass were said to be surprised to hear Stanton refer to himself in his inaugural address as a “Lamm loyalist…without any equivocation.”  In fact, it is now widely believed that Rabbi Lamm has tactically positioned himself to at least sign off on or perhaps even choose his successor. 

Questions as to how the Board ever elected a chairman like Beren who promoted views competing with those of Rabbi Lamm have to date been largely left hanging.  Speculation on the matter has ranged from the amount of money Beren’s immediate family bequeathed to the university, to the Board’s frustration with Rabbi Lamm, to, as one insider put it “a shortage of people who actually want the chairmanship.”

Nonetheless, Stanton seems to have assumed his tenure at one of the most turbulent moments in Yeshiva’s history.  “He not only has to figure out how to deal with Einstein’s and Cardozo’s threats should a Rosh Hayeshiva becomes president – he also has to oversee the search process from the drawing board in light of the lack of candidates, manage yeshiva’s budgetary concerns, and deal with exploding populations on the undergraduate campus,” said one student leader.  “The man’s got his work cut out for him.”

Shortly after pledging his formal allegiance to Lamm, Stanton, chairman and chief executive officer of Transammonia, Inc, a private corporation listed among the nation’s 100 largest by Forbes magazine, mapped out his vision for the future of Yeshiva.  The nascent chairman, who joined the Board of Trustees in 1976, stressed the importance of critical decisions being arrived at by consensus that is strongly influenced by “ the tradition, the mission, and guiding principles of Yeshiva University as established by past leadership.”  He then explained that he hopes to cultivate a “friendlier and kinder atmosphere” with the student body by synthesizing a committee of board members, faculty, and students. 

Stanton also emphasized the need “to recruit young and dynamic people” to serve as future university leaders and establish a “give and take atmosphere” when “adapting” or “restructuring” Yeshiva to meet today’s changes.  Last, but certainly not least, Stanton plans on giving members of the Board “access to the financial information and reports they need to meet their fiduciary obligations.”      

In chairing the capital campaign, Stanton has supervised the raising of $337 million of the projected $400 million.  Stanton and his wife conferred the Campaign’s largest contribution, a revolving capital fund furnishing the University with resources to augment the facilities and modernize the infrastructure of the Wilf and Midtown Campuses and Brookdale Center. 

In addition to serving Yeshiva, Stanton has served as a past trustee of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in Manhattan and a member of the boards of Lincoln Center and the New York Presbyterian Hospital.

Born in 1928, Stanton graduated from City College of New York. The library

at Stern College for Women is named for Stanton’s mother, Hedi Steinberg. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by Yeshiva University in 1982.

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