Real estate investor and manager Morris Massry is helping to build another Capital Region institution: the University at Albany.

Massry became involved with the University at Albany in 1987, when he “automatically” became a member of its Foundation board after receiving the Community Laureate Award. In the years since, he has been a Foundation director and served as chair of the Leadership Gifts Committee during the University’s first comprehensive fundraising effort, the $55 million Campaign for Albany. Massry also was a member of the Center for Environmental Sciences and Technology Management (CESTM) design committee, and he played a key role in the acquisition of the East Campus, which is the home of University research faculty, academic programs and private, research-driven companies.

Massry and his wife Esther, who are the parents of six children, both view the University at Albany as a vital educational resource for the Capital Region. To that end, he is working with the Foundation to build its endowment.