Haskell Rosenberg in front of Draper Hall, either fall of 1939 or spring of 1940.

It turned out to be the beginning of Kappa Beta, the college’s only all-Jewish fraternity. Room and board was $7.25 a week for each member. They all pitched in making beds and cleaning the place, which was located at 264 Western Avenue. The food was kosher.

“We wanted to have a Jewish fraternity because, up until that point, there were no Jews allowed in the other fraternities. We also wanted to have a place where we could live cheaply, because it was the Depression, and we wanted to do it our own way. A couple of people wanted it kosher,” said Haskell Rosenberg, B.A.’40, a charter member.

Kappa Beta members, late 1937 or early 1938, at 264 Western Ave. Front row (left to right): Herbert Frankel*, Hy Meltz, Harry Karchmer, Dick Ribner, Harry Bergstein*, Abe Savitsy*. Second row: Paul Sayles*, Haskell Rosenberg, Arnold Ellerin*, George Pearson, Herman Kleine. Third row: Joseph Schwartz, Irving Fishman, George Stangler*, Steve Greenwald*, Dave Smith*, Harold Cahn. Back row: Al Architzel*, Gadlen Bodner*, Nahum Lewis. (* indicates deceased)

The boys of Kappa Beta — a Greek derivative of the Hebrew B’Nai Chaim, “brothers for life” — had chosen the College for Teachers for one simple reason: there was no tuition.

I went to Albany because it was free,” says Rosenberg, now 83 and living in retirement in the Rochester, N.Y., suburb of Pittsford. “It was the only (free) school, outside of CUNY (City University of New York), where you could get a B.A. degree, and which was pretty competitive, too.”

Rosenberg at Hawley Library, probably 1938.

Almost all of the Kappa Beta members worked. Rosenberg made five-cent sandwiches most days from 7 to 9 a.m. in the cafeteria in the basement of Husted Hall. He also stacked books in the library for $15 a month. “I figure it worked out to about 20 cents an hour,” he says. But his best gig was selling shoes on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Miles shore store on South Pearl Street — for $5.

Even so, recalls Rosenberg, it was a wonderful experience. “We really didn’t know how tough we had it, but we couldn’t have done it without the State College at Albany.”

Few of the brothers from KB expected to get jobs as teachers because of an implicit anti-Semitism at the time, Rosenberg said. So they made their marks in other fields, or they entered academia through less direct routes.

Herman Kleine, B.A.’41, a brainy 15-year-old whose bedroom was an upper stairwell in the fraternity house, went on to a distinguished career as a top-level U.S. State Department official. Harold Gould, B.A.’47, earned his Ph.D. from Cornell University and became a successful stage and television actor. More than half of the Kappa Beta brothers went on to earn doctorates. Some became medical doctors and successful entrepreneurs.

Rosenberg, in front of the old Kappa Beta house, October 2000.

Louis Rabineau, B.A.’45, retired as president of the College of the Atlantic in Maine. Harvey Milk, A.B.’51, became a gay rights pioneer in San Francisco and in 1999 made Time magazine’s list of “the most influential people of the century.” George Erbstein, Class of ’47, became president of Dutchess Community College. Sol Greenberg, B.A.’43, recently announced his retirement after serving as Albany County’s district attorney for 25 years. Rosenberg, who graduated on the day that Hitler entered Paris, enlisted in the Army. He returned home after the war to build a wholesale shoe business that was the largest between Boston and Chicago.

“My (non-Jewish) friends wound up teaching school, but most of the rest of us, who couldn’t get these jobs, probably did better, at least financially,” Rosenberg said.

At Kappa Beta’s peak, there were more than 50 members, who by then had moved to a larger house on Quail Street in the Pine Hills section of town. The fraternity, which was all Jewish until 1954, ceased to exist in 1972 as the popularity of the Greek system waned. But about 40 KB alumni have kept alive the good memories with a series of endowments, now totaling more than $250,000, which they began funding in celebration of the fraternity’s 50th reunion in 1987.

Rosenberg, front row, third from left, with his Army infantry platoon after they crossed the Rhine in April of 1945 during World War II. He was a sergeant.

The original Kappa Beta Memorial Endowment Fund, which was established at $25,000 and has since grown to $50,000, sponsors the biennial Kappa Beta Lecture. In alternate years, it provides scholarship funds for a University at Albany graduate student in some area of Judaic studies or community service.

“The men of Kappa Beta are excellent role models for UAlbany students, and they continue to be important friends of the Judaic Studies department and the University,” said Mark Raider, chairman of the department, which administers most of the funds. “Their spirit, drive and vision have made it possible for Judaic Studies to mount and sponsor many significant programs, scholarships and community events.”

In addition to the Kappa Beta Memorial Endowment Fund, other Kappa Beta-related endowments include:

• The Lillian L. Kensky and Dr. Harry C. Kensky Award: Established by Mrs. Kensky in memory of her husband, Harry C. Kensky, Class of ’43, this scholarship goes in alternate years to an outstanding senior who is pursuing graduate studies in Jewish service or scholarship.

• The Fishman Fund Grant: Awarded to worthy Judaic studies students in need of financial support, this fund was established by Irving Fishman, B.A.’40. Fishman is founder and president of Maritime Power Corp. of Jersey City, N.J., the world’s largest supplier of marine and industrial equipment.

• The Calvin and Patricia Zippin Scholarship Endowment: Calvin Zippin, A.B.’47, and his wife, Patricia, founded this endowment in memory of his parents, Samuel and Jennie Zippin, to help outstanding students of Judaic studies pursue their education. “I’ve had a very rewarding life, and the foundation for it all started at State. . . My wife and I felt it would be so meaningful to my parents, who lived in Albany for many years, to name the endowment in their memory,” said Zippin. He recently retired as a cancer epidemiologist at the University of California School of Medicine at San Francisco.

• The Stephen Arnold Rosenberg Fund: Established by Haskell and Sunny Rosenberg in memory of their son, this endowment supports the activities of the Judaic Studies Department.

• The Futterer-Gould Fund: The Futterer-Gould Endowment, which is administered by the Theatre Department, was established by Harold and Leah Gould in honor of Agnes Futterer, a professor of English and drama at UAlbany from 1917 to 1959 who mentored Harold Gould. The fund supports departmental programs in speech and voice training for students.

• The Bernard Arbit Fund: This endowment, which is being administered through the University’s Charitable Gift Annuity Program, was established by businessman Bernard Arbit, Class of ’42.

• The Harry and Shirley Siegel Passow Fund. Shirley Siegel Passow, B.A.’46, M.A.’52, is in the process of setting up an endowment in memory of her husband, Harry Passow, Class of ’42, a Kappa Beta member who was a distinguished professor of education at Columbia University