Aaron Lansky
{{Infobox person
| image = Aaron Lansky Sammy Awards.jpg
| caption = Aaron Lansky at the Sammy Awards in 2016
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1955|06|17}}
| birth_place = New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA
| education = {{plainlist|
- Hampshire College (BA, 1977)
- McGill University (MA)
}}
| known_for = Founding the Yiddish Book Center
}}
Aaron Lansky (born 1955) is the founder of the Yiddish Book Center, an organization he created to help salvage Yiddish language publications. He received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1989 for his work.
Education
Lanksy was born on June 17, 1955, in New Bedford, Massachusetts.{{cite book |title=Aaron Lansky |work=Contemporary Authors Online |publisher=Gale |year=2008 |location=Detroit}}{{cite web |title=Aaron Lansky, founder and president |url=http://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/aaron-lansky-founder-and-president |accessdate=April 28, 2015 |publisher=Yiddish Book Center}}
He graduated from Hampshire College in 1977 with a B.A. in modern Jewish history, and earned an MA in East European Jewish studies at McGill University in Montreal.
He holds honorary doctorates from Amherst College (1998),{{Cite web |title=Recipients by Name {{!}} Honorary Degrees & Awards {{!}} Amherst College |url=https://www.amherst.edu/news/events/commencement/awards/name |access-date=2024-03-21 |website=www.amherst.edu}} the State University of New York, and Hebrew Union College.
Career
While a graduate student at McGill University, Lansky founded the Yiddish Book Center in 1980.{{Cite web |title=Our Story {{!}} Yiddish Book Center |url=https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/about/saving-literature |access-date=2024-03-21 |website=www.yiddishbookcenter.org |language=en}}
Lansky is the author of Outwitting History (2004), an autobiographical account of how he saved the Yiddish books of the world, from the 1970s to the present day. It won the 2005 Massachusetts Book Award.{{cite web |title=Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books A Reading and Discussion Guide |url=http://www.massbook.org/reading_guides/Outwitting%20History%20discussion%20guide2%20PDF.pdf |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208151447/http://www.massbook.org/reading_guides/Outwitting%20History%20discussion%20guide2%20PDF.pdf |archivedate=February 8, 2012 |accessdate=April 28, 2015 |publisher=The Massachusetts Center for the Book}} A children's book called “The Book Rescuer: How a Mensch from Massachusetts Saved Yiddish Literature for Generations to Come” also tells his story.
In February 2024, Lansky noted that he would be retiring from the Yiddish Book Center in June 2025.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/27/books/aaron-lansky-yiddish-book-center.html | title=He Rescued 1.5 Million Yiddish Books. Now He Will Have Time to Read Some | work=The New York Times | date=27 February 2024 | last1=Berger | first1=Joseph }}
Notes
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Category:20th-century American Jews
Category:Yiddish-language literature
Category:Hampshire College alumni
Category:McGill University alumni
Category:21st-century American Jews
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