In the late 1960s and early ’70s, colleges and universities nationwide were hotbeds of student activism. At Bryant, Alan Kluger ’72, served as the last student body president on Bryant’s Providence campus and became the first on the Smithfield campus by forming a winning coalition of students with diverse attitudes about the war in Vietnam, racial injustice, and politics.
“Bryant had a knack for recruiting students who weren’t ready to buckle down and excel until they reached age 19 or 20,” recalls Kluger. He was one of them. He discovered at Bryant an exceptional business education, leadership opportunities, and an environment where he was challenged to achieve at the highest level.
"Bryant welcomed me and gave me the opportunity to really shine... it was a dynamic catalyst for me."
“Bryant welcomed me and gave me the opportunity to really shine,” he notes. “I learned how to lead at Bryant. It was a dynamic catalyst for me.”
Kluger also has never forgotten the warmth and camaraderie he found in Bryant’s Hillel program, where Communications Professor Burton Fischman met with students on weekends to share lox and bagels.
Following graduation, Kluger earned a law degree at Miami University and launched his legal career with a passion for preparation and strategy, and a mastery of the facts and law. Today, he is a senior partner and founding member of Kluger, Kaplan, Silverman, Katzen & Lev in Miami, where he is recognized as one of the nation’s most respected and successful trial attorneys.
Kluger and his wife, retired Judge Amy Dean, are deeply engaged in their community through service and philanthropy. They are devoted to supporting organizations involved with Jewish heritage, higher education, medicine, and the arts, as well as numerous local charities.
His many gifts to Bryant reflect both Kluger’s deep gratitude for the Bryant education and experience that fueled his success and dedication to his Jewish faith and culture. Kluger recently spearheaded a drive with classmates to raise $200,000 to endow Bryant’s thriving Hillel program.
Their fundraising effort was launched in October on the University’s 2020 Giving Day to honor their late friend David Gold ’71, the recipient of the University’s Nelson J. Gulski Service Award in 2017. Nearly half of the funds have been raised to date and Kluger — inspired by fond memories of Hillel and with great hope for future students — is determined to reach the goal. “Rabbi Steven Jablow does an amazing job,” explains Kluger, who has been a guest lecturer in the Hillel director’s Cultural Studies class. “He’s revived Hillel for a whole new generation.”
