Distinguished Israeli scholar Yehuda Elkana, who headed the Central European University, died at the age of 78.

A survivor of Auschwitz, Elkana died in Jerusalem Sept. 21 after a battle with cancer, the Budapest-based Central European University, where Elkana served as president and rector from 1999 to 2009, announced.

The statement called Elkana an academic pioneer who had led the Central European University for nearly half the life of the university.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“I want to express my deepest appreciation for all he accomplished. I admire the courage with which he faced his illness and, eventually, his death,” said University Founder and Honorary Chairman of the Board George Soros.

Born in 1934 in Subotica in what was then Yugoslavia, Elkana and his family were deported to Auschwitz in 1944, but survived. He immigrated to Israel in 1948.

Elkana was a historian and philosopher of science who taught at Harvard University and served as a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University (1973-1974) and a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford (1977-1978). He served as director of both the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute (1968-1993) and the Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University (1981-1991), and held other senior academic positions.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount