Rabbi Alexander Schindler served as Chairman of the Conference of Presidents from January 1976 through June 1978.

Born in Germany, Rabbi Schindler fled the Nazis with his family and arrived in America when he was twelve years old. During World War II, he joined the the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division Alpine Ski Patrol. He earned three combat ribbons, as well as a Purple Heart for bravery and a Bronze Star for action. After the War, he studied at City College, as well as at Jewish Theological Seminary, Hebrew Union College, and the New School. In 1953, he graduated from the Hebrew Union College’s Jewish Institute of Religion and was ordained as a rabbi the same year.

He established the New England Coalition of Reform Synagogues, and served as director of the New England regional office of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now the Union for Reform Judaism).

In 1973, Rabbi Schindler became president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, where he played a leading role in Reform Judaism’s creation of a network of programs for social justice, religious pluralism, civil rights, and civil liberties. He also encouraged the Reform Movement to participate fully in the Zionist world. He remained in his post for 23 years, until 1996.

Rabbi Schindler’s other roles include vice-president of the World Jewish Congress; member of the Governing Board of the Jewish Agency; secretary of the Joint Distribution Committee; vice president and president of the Memorial Foundation for Jewish culture, and president of the World Jewish Congress. In his honor, the Jewish National Fund planted 500 trees in the Schindler Forest in Israel. For his work on the peace process in Israel, he received the Solomon Bublick Award of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Rabbi Schindler passed away in 2000.